I think behavior that was happening in the 1980’s is happening less frequently now.
Or at the very least not being tolerated or discounted when brought forward
The casting couch was a very ugly component of the entertainment industry.
Back in the stone age when I was in HS, some teachers were young men who went into teaching after college to avoid the draft and their low draft numbers. And some were openly dating my HS classmates. And when I was in grad school there were professors dating and marrying students. I was propositioned by professors in grad school and superiors in my organization when I was a young professional. A simple “no” was sufficient, and fortunately without any threat of impact on my academic or professional career. Fortunately some things have changed, but sadly much has not.
Apparently, Judy Dench has HW tattooed on her behind because she’s so grateful to his influence in the industry. I doubt he asked her for a massage.
Someone described him flailing about between apology and excuses, like it was a piano keyboard and he managed to hit every key. It was the way of things in the 70’s, I love women - really, I need to become a better person, etc. All he needs to do is “enter rehab” to fill every oval.
ETA - what bugs me the most is they paid off someone in the London office in the 90s. She wasn’t allowed to speak about it, but the company must have known and didn’t stop him. I hate those legal gag rules. I don’t think I’d ever sign one.
That’s a nice thought, but young tech bros don’t seem to have gotten the message that they shouldn’t harass women.
I don’t think there’s much about the Harvey Weinstein story that makes it particularly of this time, or of any certain place, culture, or political environment. As a 16 y/o, I was harassed by the manager of the grocery store where I worked at my first job. I was hassled by clients in a customer service job when I was in my 20s. And while these may have been middle-aged or older men who weren’t in the least bit made shy by their physical unattractiveness, that’s not really what they had in common with Weinstein. Like him, they were in a position of power over a younger woman, and didn’t hesitate to use that power in attempting to use her, too.
We can say, “What do you expect - look how hypocritical Hollywood is” but we really have to say that about the military, Washington, big business, small business, Main Street USA, and on and on. The moral responsibility rests with these men. It would be somewhat easier to understand them if they’d all been abused as children, but then how to explain the many people who were abused as children who don’t grow up to be predators themselves?
I doubt that most harassers were abused as children and I’ve not heard that Weinstein was abused. This is really a side issue, but I want to comment on the logic here, because it’s bad. If being abused as a child did cause a man to be a harasser as an adult, that wouldn’t necessarily mean that everyone who was abused as a child would be a harasser as an adult.
After all, I have a cold right now because I was exposed to my sister’s cold. That doesn’t mean every single person she encountered when she had a cold is now sick. Rather it means that people who are exposed to colds are likely to catch colds, but some people manage not to catch colds even when exposed to them.
Yes…exactly. Everyone’s first mirror to the world is how your parents validate and love their children. I strongly suspect that the parents told them that they were wonderful and beautiful boys. And they believed them.
Hang on a sec. Don’t most of us tell our kids they’re wonderful and beautiful?
ETA: Of course, bevhill’s and my kids are wonderful and beautiful, so maybe there’s the difference.
Weinstein stands out among harasers imo. Most of harasers kept their cloths on while harassing to get to take them off. HW seems to just take them off. In vulgarness, he takes the cake. There gotta be some abuse in his past. I wouldn’t know how else to explain it. Not saying it’s right or forgivable. I am just astonished with the way he carried out.
Yes, we all tell our kids that they are fabulous. The schism starts when loving parents make excuses for bad behavior. The excusing can go on…and then we bring in entitlement. Power.
Drugging your victims like Cosby sure stood out to me! I think they both have a place at the very bottom of the pond of scum.
NY times made note of the fact that SNL or late night comics have not done any Harvey material even though they skewered Ailes and O’reilly for the same behavior. Just because he’s liberal he shouldn’t get a pass!
Luke 12:2-3 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.
Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.
Still true, as always. Sometimes it just takes longer than we hope.
I don’t get the “Hollywood is hypocritical about women” accusation. The inferior status and sexual exploitation of women in Hollywood has been a major feature of the business forever and still is. I’ve never noted them pretending to be anything else.
BTW, HW is no doubt a major sleaze, but he came by his power in Hollywood honestly. He has made an enormous number of really excellent movies.
Sorry, @“Cardinal Fang” but the cold exposure analogy is not a good one. The direct physical/sexual emotional and psychological abuse and long term trauma that occurs to young victims who do not know any other “normal”, who may have been abused at different points in their lives, taught shame and secrecy, who are taught to confuse love with lust, who become inappropriately sexualized often at a young age… I could go on and on. But this is extremely different from merely being in the same area with someone sneezing and spreading germs. Apologies to any survivors of abuse who are shamed into thinking their abuse and the possible consequences are similar to being sneezed on. I hope I am misunderstanding your analogy.
@wisteria100 – true about The Hunting Ground. But that’s a recent production, YEARS after the worst of his actions. Maybe he’s mellowed with age 
PS. I agree: he’s a sleazoid.
Well, the BOD just announced that he has been terminated from the company. “The Weinstein Co. board of directors announces that Harvey Weinstein is terminated, effective immediately”
https://breaking.iavian.net/article/160205
How do you get terminated from your own company? How do we know his brother wasn’t doing the same things?
@busyparent – rumor has it, it was the brother who tipped off/gave info to the NYT… it appears there had been a power struggle between the two.
Yeah especially when your brother is also on the board and is co-chairman of the company. I feel like it was staged as a termination but think it was a PR move to make sure the $ keeps flowing through that company. That benefits both the Weinsteins. He can still be the behind the scenes guy running the show.