Maybe some women, quite reasonably, feel that reporting crimes like this from powerful men will make their lives considerably worse?
…this is not fucking pathetic.
Ambra Battilana Gutierrez went to the police. In 2016. They conducted a sting operation. And they caught him on tape. And the DA killed the investigation. The crime was reported and nothing happened. NBC killed this story, as did others. The Weinstein Company and Miramax kept this quiet for decades using threats, lawsuits and payouts to shut people down.
This is a huge fucking story. Weinstein is most certainly guilty of sexual harassment, is probably guilty of sexual assault, and may well be guilty of rape. It is impressive that you have been able to direct your ire in this thread at the victim of this despicable person and not the despicable person himself. Well done you.
Sexual assault victims being scared to go to the authorities is most certainly **not **a uniquely USA problem. It happens in the United Kingdom. It happens in Australia. It happens all over the world. Clean up your own backyard before you complain about somebody elses.
I am not in the USA.
Also, I think it’s awesome you have never had to deal with this reality, don’t speak about it casually like you have any clue, because clearly you do not.
If what you brought up about the NYC investigation being quashed by the DA, Cyrus Vance, Jr., is true, we’ve gone beyond Weinstein’s alleged acts of sexual assault/rape and into bribery and obstruction of justice.
Just ducking in to post this.
Geez, whatever will the Awards Season pundits do without Harvey to use as a go-to “It’s all HIS fault!” punching bag?
Now that the AMPAS has thrown Harvey out, can we FINALLY take Clarence Thomas off the Supreme Court?
Prosecutors have broad prosecutorial discretion. Unless you can make a direct link between Weinstein pressuring Vance and him dropping the case, then what he did might be unsavory but it’s legally above board.
It’s worthwhile noting though that this is the same Cyrus Vance Jr who dropped the case against Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump around Trump SoHo after receiving a campaign donation from Trump’s family lawyer.
…says the guy from the country that gave us Jimmy Saville.
I’m hoping you know the difference between children and responsible adults.
Which isn’t to say you’re not American. As an observation, I’ve never met a Canadian who would say ‘out yourself as a victim’ with a straight face.
Look, by taking his money, she chose to be complicit in her abuse, and the subsequent abuse of numerous women. Contrast that with the Italian woman who went to the police and wore a wire <<< that is a normal, socially-responsible, self-respecting respone.
…the “Italian woman” has a name you know. This is what happened to Ambra Battilana Gutierrez after she went to the police.
She did everything you demand. She went to the police. She reported. She was not believed. The police did jack shit. She was shamed by the press, she was called a publicity seeker, a blackmailer. She lost work. And Harvey just kept on going. This is the fate of the whistleblower. Those that spoke out had their lives destroyed even more than the ones who kept quiet.
It happens in your backyard, whether or not you accept that or not.
Thank you for continuing to demonstrate a crucial aspect of rape culture - if victims don’t act in a specific certain way, they’re not really victims.
Sometimes people take the carrot because they’re afraid of the stick.
The problem is rampant consequence free raping and assaulting for many years, not that some victims don’t go to the police.
Good article in the New Yorker. Not that I expect the victim-blamers to read it
And the truth is, in a large city like New York or LA, the police aren’t going to expend much time and effort on a single incident of misdemeanor harassment or forcible touching - especially if there are no witnesses, no injuries and it’s a “he said she said” situation. You’re dealing with police precincts that handle dozens of serious and even life-threatening assaults every day. And police officers that are jaded and sometimes assholes. It’s just not going to be a priority.
I remember an incident that made the news where some guy exposed himself to a woman on the subway. And she managed to photograph it. And she went to the police, just like all the public service announcements tell you to do. And she was literally laughed at for coming to a police station to show “dick pics” to the cops. They told her to go away and stop bothering them, it wasn’t a police matter. Then she called the local news station, only after that was she taken seriously.
And even if by some miracle you get it prosecuted, the penalty will probably be some kind of insignificant fine and maybe a little community service.
And you will be accused of making it up, of extortion, of being vindictive. And you’ll risk destroying your career and the investment you made in your career.
And your sexual and personal history will be put on display and ridiculed. Going to the police is not the way to get any sort of justice.
And these women did not keep quiet at the time . Now YOU and I only heard about this last week but they told their agents, their producers, their friends and fellow actors. They told Miramax. They told lots of people.
And the truth is that a single incident of casting couch malfeasance isn’t going to provoke a lot of outrage or get a lot of attention, except among the close friends and family of the victim. The outrage is in the pervasiveness and the pattern which the individual victims may not even be aware of. Until it reaches the sort of critical mass that it did and explodes.
Absolutely agree.
I am not going to apologize for not acting the way you expect victims to act. You don’t get to dictate how I (or anyone else) decide how to manage my trauma in order to survive.
People blame rape victims because they don’t respond in the approved manner. It’s fucking horrible and we should all be ashamed that people like that still exist. Thank you for calling attention to this terrible issue, hopefully we can keep working at it so some day hateful rape apologists like that cease to exist and we can be a much better country.
Am I missing something here? Your statement “by taking his money” was the a result of a lawsuit and not capitulation. weinstein was legally held to account for his actions.
This was about abuse of power and not sexual assault. The sexual aspect of it was secondary. weinstein could have saved himself a fortune in lawsuits by buying prostitutes. If you set aside those who were sexually assaulted by him there are certainly many more people who had their careers ruined because they didn’t worship at his alter.
Not sure if this has been linked to already, but here’s a good contribution by actress and director Sarah Polley.