The Hollywood Casting Couch #Metoo and Donald Trump

The Hollywood casting couch is about the inequity of power and we finally decided to bring that to light once it became clear that another Hollywood elite was running as a Republican and that he was going to be president.

The problem is that the inequity of power is Universal. Protesting the Weinstein of every culture is futile as none of us are truly equally matched when it comes to social standing and cultural influence.

Do you really want to prohibit two consenting adults from sexual activity just because one is more powerful than the other?

If they want the job, they'll do something I want . . . .

or

what?

"Consenting" is a troubling word when "Power" is in play.

Is the kidnapped child "consenting" when they go out in public with their kidnappers, and told not to say anything?

MeToo has already served its purpose well, just as the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings did 3 decades ago: they increased awareness and sensitivity of proper interaction between sexes, and such open dialogue has likely helped better define the line to avoid crossing, or will. It isn’t so much about the past as it is more about the future.

Not apples to apples comparison.

Harvey Weinstein was squeezed for his dirty antics and put on display, but not because he was a pederast. He was squeezed so as to establish the foundation for removing a letch from the oval office (2 decades too late!)

How can we have a meaningful dialog about progress and women if we have already identified the ethics of sex primarily about the age of consent? As long as I'm old enough to consent, I can do what I want with my body even if the other person is more powerful than I.

You could make the argument that performing a sex-transaction with a person of greater prestige makes the transaction more desirable.

What we put up with prior is an invitation for more of the same.

If the Hill/Thomas event is of any predictor, an accuser will be brought out at the 11th hour to shame a nominee for the supreme court . . . and he'll deny it but the accusation will haunt him for a long time.

People won't act better. All of that just paved the way for the Dems to do the same thing with Kavanaugh and Ford.

Awareness only helps if it's based upon fact.

So you support Bill Clinton. Got it.

It got a lot better in the workplace after Anita Hill. Sexual harassment became household knowledge and companies started training employees on it. This awareness surely reduced its instance.

Did it eradicate it entirely? No. Did some abuse the crackdown to go after innocents? Yes. There are always those with vile intentions, and there is nothing we can do about that except police each case where we can. But it did help educate the vast majority who are willing to play by the rules who simply didn’t know what they were beforehand.

Even the victims didn’t know what they were. Anita Hill helped both men and women everywhere.

Just not Clarance Thomas.

My point is, I don't think it was in the workplace. It was a few women who he wasn't actually working with. And they consented. And there was nothing transactional about it.

Whether or not it's a good idea, I don't think he deserved to completely lose his career over it.

As far as "keeping it outside the industry," are you really suggesting that the answer is that no one in Hollywood should ever have a relationship with anyone else in the entertainment industry? That's pretty asinine. I'm plenty of happy celebrity couples would disagree with you.

The argument of the second person is also the argument many use when the topic of gun control comes up. You can't stop all of them, so why stop any of them. (mass/public shootings)

And my point is that the sad reality of his position requires extra care beyond what other people might consider 'normal'. Comedians especially live and die on public opinion, much like most of the rest of the entertainment industry. Their face, their look, is their brand and unlike a corporation that can re-brand itself, a person's reputation will heavily affect their work and follow them forever. THAT'S what it means to be in the public eye. If you're a comedian, and your job consists of gigs, then whatever you did or didn't do, if no venue will hire you for a show, then your career is over.



I honestly don't care what happens to him either way. I have no skin in that fight. He finds work if people want to hire him. If they can't separate this incident from his work, well then the facts of the incident don't really matter now do they?

Take sex offenders for instance. There are numerous ways to become a sex offender and they range from bad decision making to literally raping minors. The facts of the case don't really matter though, because no one wants to hire a sex offender to look after children. Honestly, most people barely tolerate even living near them.

My point being that whether or not they deserve it is kind of a moot point if no one will hire them anyway. I can't make someone overlook something about another person so that they can get a job, regardless of how I feel on the matter at hand.



All I'm saying is that such relationships carry with it certain risks. Normal relationships can already be complicated, and celebrity relationships are anything but normal.

I don't know, nor do I really care where Louis CK is in his career, but if there is a power disparity then that *is* a factor that should be considered when picking partners. It may be a sad reality, but it is a reality. I'm sure many happy adults would love to have relationships with their professors as well, but regardless of whether or not such a relationship is genuine, there *is* a power disparity in that dynamic that needs to be noted.

I won't tell you or anyone else how to live their lives, but if people insist on playing with fire, then they should be prepared if it ends poorly. Relationships with uneven power dynamics are dangerous to engage in.

Also I don't think that Louis CK's actions indicate a happy celebrity couples relationship, but that's neither here nor there really.

Ok.

You're spending a lot of time on this for someone who doesn't really care.