Yes folks, I'm going to go there again. I'm 'thanking' Harvey Weinstein but I'm going to give you a break and not post his ugly mug.
I remember clearly the first time I heard my first 'I want to thank Harvey Weinstein' from Meryl Streep I thought 'WHO IS HE?' Then in subsequent Academy Awards all the 'I want to thank you Harvey Weinstein's' got to be a joke, at least to me. Again I thought 'Who is this Harvey Weinstein?' Then I saw him. To me this fat, sweaty, arrogant looking man looked with the stereotypical studio tyrant and sexual predator using the casting couch to cast his movies. Then I thought, 'No, this is too obvious. He must be a sweet man.' Well, of course time has proven that ole Harvey was indeed the gross sexual predator and abuser of power from my first impression of him.
What I'm thanking Harvey Weinstein for is that the exposure of him as a gross sexual predator has created an avalanche and culture changing phenomena. Thank goodness. This is way overdue.
Imagine the hell these men like Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey (who always creeped me out) are going through now. Not only have they lost their careers (don't worry about their money, they still have millions) but they have lost their influence and power to abuse others.
Imagine how frustrating it is for the Chief Sexual Perpetrator who resides in the White House who can't kiss women at will and grab their pussies (his exact words). Oh sure, we now how 'How about Bill Clinton?' How about Bill Clinton? What he did wasn't right either and he paid the price (impeached).
Now we're witnessing a child molester candidate for senator Roy Moore in Alabama. Women have come forward giving witness to Moore stalking and assaulting them when he was in his late thirties and they were teenagers. Moore says he doesn't know any of these women and the accusations are a 'Democrat Clinton-Obama conspiracy' against him. What is sad is that he knows he is lying and his Christian evangelicals know he is lying but they would rather elect a child molester to the Senate than a Democrat.
Notice a difference in how the Democrats treat their sexual offenders and the Republicans? The Democrats throw them under the bus (rightly) and the Republicans claim the women are lying. Just to be clear, Al Franken shouldn't have taken advantage of his position and planted a deep tongue wet kiss on that woman or posed with his hands over her breasts in a photo thinking that was funny. It wasn't. But at least he acknowledged his mistake and apologized. Unlike the cowardly Republicans who lie even in the face of obvious facts.
Now women (and men) are taken more seriously when they make claims of sexual offenses against them. Of course there is always the danger of false accusations and believe me that is a real possibility. Twice in my working career I was accused of sexual harassment. Both times I was disciplining a subordinate who worked for me and this was their was of deflecting attention from their failures.
The first time was a woman who worked for me. She wasn't doing her job. I gave her a written warning. She went to personnel and accused me of sexual harassment. This was an interesting accusation since I am gay. My boss knew I was gay and he didn't take her accusation seriously.
The second time (at a different bank) I was accused again of sexual harassment from a subordinate who was frequently absent. Now this charge was interesting because if I was going to sexually harass anyone it certainly wouldn't be him. He was a redhead (I'm not into redheads) and had a big pot belly (he was an alcoholic). He charge was based on a statement I made to him when we were both working one weekend at the bank. I expressed disappointment that I couldn't attend a gay march on Washington with my friends. That conversation happened about four months before his charge of 'sexual harassment' from me. His wife worked in personnel and apparently advised him that my conversation with him made him 'uncomfortable.' Well, EXCUSE me. This time I didn't have a friend in personnel and they came down on me for 'sexually harassing an subordinate.' Of course I exploded and refused to sign the written warning I received. This was when I realized that Personnel or Human Resources as that area is now known, isn't there to protect the employee but to protect the company from liability. That was an eye opening experience for me folks and I have to say I was very disappointed. I was naive enough to believe that Personnel was there for the employee but it isn't. But again, what really got me was that ANYONE would think I would sexually harass that red headed, beer bellied alcoholic. Man, if I'm going to be accused of sexually harassing anyone at least let it be my type.
Well, I'm rambling on here folks. Always interesting these trips down Memory Lane, even the bad memories. But to get back to the original intent of this blog, I'm thanking big, fat, greasy Harvey for bringing about this change in our culture so no longer women and men, will have to accept unwanted sexual attention from those in power above them. Poor Kevin Spacey, what is he going to do with his life now?
What's going to be interesting folks, is this years' Academy Awards Show. What kind of ribbons with be worn on lapels and fame designer gowns this year? Will there be the usual inside jokes about Harvey and Kevin? Or will there be preachy acceptance speeches? Or (get ready for it) will we hear one more:
'THANK YOU HARVEY WEINSTEIN!'
