# Please explain to me why Roman Polanski isn't a bad guy **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 31, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126 "2014-10-31T15:14:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/81 "2014-11-01T19:26:28Z")
It’s pretty much impossible to answer that question. Chaplin himself claimed to have slept with more than 2,000 women, and many of them were pretty young. It’s likely that quite a few of them were underage. There’s a recent biography of Chaplin by Peter Ackroyd that has much to say about his sexual exploits. If you want to read it and report back to us on ages and locations, please do so. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/82 "2014-11-01T19:32:22Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > And what was the AoC in Chaplin’s day and in the state where these acts occurred? 18 is over the age of consent in every US state, and as far as I know always has been. I’m not sure what having a legal, consensual relationship with an 18 year old has to do with violent rape of a 13 year old. ---
**Author:** ![Rune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e68b1a/32.png) [@Rune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rune)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/83 "2014-11-01T19:32:53Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > And what was the AoC in Chaplin’s day and in the state where these acts occurred? I have no idea, don’t care and it has absolutely no bearing on the question of if made him a bad guy because of it. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/84 "2014-11-01T19:39:54Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > I have no idea, don’t care and it has absolutely no bearing on the question of if made him a bad guy because of it. Of course it does. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/85 "2014-11-01T19:50:44Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Of course it does. Do you, or do you not think it is ok to rape a13 year old? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/86 "2014-11-01T20:16:01Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Re Woody Allen. Charlie Chaplin married a recently turned 18yo girl, and had affairs with younger girls. Water is wet, the Pope is Catholic, and the world is full of men who likes teenage girls. Which doesn’t make having sex with a girl you know is 13yo ok, but I don’t know if that makes him still a bad guy thirty years later. People do change and lots of things can have happened in three decades. But there’s a huge developmental difference b/w 18 and 13. And he had sex with her when she wasn’t consenting–wrong whether the victim in question is 13 or, say, 30. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/87 "2014-11-01T20:16:07Z")
> [@Rune](#): > > Re Woody Allen. Charlie Chaplin married a recently turned 18yo girl, and had affairs with younger girls. Water is wet, the Pope is Catholic, and the world is full of men who likes teenage girls. Which doesn’t make having sex with a girl you know is 13yo ok, but I don’t know if that makes him still a bad guy thirty years later. People do change and lots of things can have happened in three decades. There’s a difference between thinking a 16 year old girl is attractive (sexually) and actually involving yourself with one. What man in his youth hasn’t had a young girl try to flirt with him or the reverse for women? You walk away shaking your head as to what they must be thinking? ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/88 "2014-11-01T20:53:05Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > There’s a difference between thinking a 16 year old girl is attractive (sexually) and actually involving yourself with one. What man in his youth hasn’t had a young girl try to flirt with him or the reverse for women? You walk away shaking your head as to what they must be thinking? There’s a world of difference between a 19-year-old going out with a 16-year-old and a 35-year-old going out with a 16-year-old. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/89 "2014-11-01T22:26:48Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > There’s a world of difference between a 19-year-old going out with a 16-year-old and a 35-year-old going out with a 16-year-old. And a much bigger world between any of those and 13. Heck 16 and 13 would have skeeved me out a little when I was in High School ( not that it didn’t happen, but such pairings drew a lot of disdain ). ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/90 "2014-11-01T22:32:14Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > Do you, or do you not think it is ok to rape a13 year old? The law of most jurisdictions in which I am willing to live states that it is not. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/91 "2014-11-01T22:35:33Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > There’s a world of difference between a 19-year-old going out with a 16-year-old and a 35-year-old going out with a 16-year-old. Certainly to some people it’s not. But if I did that at 19 my friends and family would have distanced themselves from me. I can hear my mother saying something as blunt as “what is wrong with you”. I suppose it’s how you’re raised. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/92 "2014-11-01T23:29:28Z")
So we have a) a guy having sex with a seventh grader, b) a guy drugging a thirteen year old and, c) a guy raping a thirteen year old against her will. How the fucking hell does that not add up to a crime by a guilty asshole? What the hell did he have to do to get jail time and societal condemnation? Give her a few black eyes? Smash her skull against a wall? Tear apart her private parts? This thread reminds me to keep a close eye on my girls until I send them off to college. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/93 "2014-11-01T23:40:25Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > This thread reminds me to keep a close eye on my girls until I send them off to college. Well, it shouldn’t raise your ire that much - really you only have one or two outliers in this thread. It’s not like the SDMB or the world at large is chockablock with Polanski defenders. It’s just the contrary opinions stick out admidst the overall chorus of condemantion. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/94 "2014-11-01T23:47:57Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > He was in a committed relationship with her mother to the point they jointly adopted children together. He was in every way an adult guardian to her as part of a family unit even though he didn’t adopt her. And the law says he wasn’t her father, step-father, nor adoptive father. Your personal opinion of the matter does not negate the legal fact, especially as Miss Previn was not adopted by Allen. > [@](#): > > The man-child known as Allen started his adult life by marrying a 16 year old. You’re tossing out a childish comment with that insult. Stick to fact, if you don’t mind. As another poster informed you, the marriage was a legal marriage and therefore not, in law, child molestation. > [@](#): > > He had an affair with a 17 year from one of his movies. The 17-year old was past the age of consent and therefore that act was not, in law, child molestation. > [@](#): > > While he might not be “Charles Manson bad” on the scum scale I have no use for him. Bully for you. The man broke no law. You don’t like the law? Agitate to have the law changed. Now, let’s get back to the subject of Polanski. Now he really did break the law and he compounded his child molestation (rape) with fleeing the jurisdiction to avoid the lawful penalty to be imposed by a judge. Why should Polanski be the only child molester to be considered cured somehow by the corpus of his work created while he is actively and publicly remaining free as a fugitive from justice? Other child molesters get death threats, are restricted in their movements even after they’e served the sentence imposed by a court, and generally treated as the worst kind of pariah. Polanski committed a heinous crime in the past and has not faced due punishment for that crime. And he his committing a crime now. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2014, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/95 "2014-11-01T23:55:04Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Well, it shouldn’t raise your ire that much - really you only have one or two outliers in this thread. It’s not like the SDMB or the world at large is chockablock with Polanski defenders. It’s just the contrary opinions stick out admidst the overall chorus of condemantion. It’s not just the Polanski shit. It’s the kind of view of young girls as seen in Halloween costumes like these: > **[Here's Proof That Tween Girl Halloween Costumes Are Way Too Sexed-Up](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/heres-proof-that-tween-girl-halloween-costumes-are-way-too-sexed-up_b_6062460)** > > My daughter has officially entered the tween years -- and Halloween just got a hell of a lot more problematic. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/96 "2014-11-02T00:37:20Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Well, it shouldn’t raise your ire that much - really you only have one or two outliers in this thread. It’s not like the SDMB or the world at large is chockablock with Polanski defenders. It’s just the contrary opinions stick out admidst the overall chorus of condemantion. Yah. **Lavender** , there’s no shortage of societal condemnation of Polanski. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/97 "2014-11-02T00:38:40Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > It’s not just the Polanski shit. It’s the kind of view of young girls as seen in Halloween costumes like these: > > [Here's Proof That Tween Girl Halloween Costumes Are Way Too Sexed-Up | HuffPost Life](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lindsay-ferrier/heres-proof-that-tween-girl-halloween-costumes-are-way-too-sexed-up_b_6062460.html) “PharaHo”… bwahaha… ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/98 "2014-11-02T00:47:02Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Yah. **Lavender** , there’s no shortage of societal condemnation of Polanski. There seems to be a shortage in Europe, or they would have sent him back. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/99 "2014-11-02T00:50:42Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > There seems to be a shortage in Europe, or they would have sent him back. I’m sorry, but I’m not seeing how that is either accurate or relevant. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126/100 "2014-11-02T01:44:37Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > It’s not just the Polanski shit. It’s the kind of view of young girls as seen in Halloween costumes like these: > > [Here's Proof That Tween Girl Halloween Costumes Are Way Too Sexed-Up | HuffPost Life](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lindsay-ferrier/heres-proof-that-tween-girl-halloween-costumes-are-way-too-sexed-up_b_6062460.html) Yeesh. Can’t argue much with that, though like the author of that piece you kinda gotta wonder about who all the parents are that are buying all of these French Maid outfits for their twelve year-olds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-explain-to-me-why-roman-polanski-isnt-a-bad-guy/703126.md?page=6)