It's what it's always about power and control if a person has a lot of power they think they can do anything and with that same power control people and keep them quiet. Would Harvey Weinstein have gotten away with what he did for as long as he did without the power to make and break people? If Weinsteins actions had not gotten exposed (no pun intended) would we be hearing about all these other incidents?
It's what it's always about power and control if a person has a lot of power they think they can do anything
Yes, some people who have a lot of influence have that kind of hubris, but not always is the assault/harassment about power or control, nor do all influential people think they can do anything.
Would Harvey Weinstein have gotten away with what he did for as long as he did without the power to make and break people?
He might have. Were that the case, he wouldn't be the first or only person to have no "make and break" capability and nonetheless sexually harass someone.
For example, people have no particular power or control over another have committed so-called date rape, and it'd be incredibly naive to think that all who've committed that offense have been discovered and convicted. (See case law citations in note 1 below) I suspect quite a lot of collegiate women have been the victims of harassment by their male classmates taking things too far, ostensibly under the auspices of "all in good fun," which, as anyone who's been harassed, sexually or otherwise, can attest, they don't find it good or fun.
I came of age in the time when many schools transitioned to co-ed status. At my school and others like it, it was a "quiet quip" among us boys that the transition was good because it increased the "preponderance and proximity of p*ssy," and while most of us construe that aphorism as comedy, not all of us did. Now nobody got raped, but that nothing went that far is no accolade or recompense. The intrepid girls who attended those schools endured a measure of sexual harassment that was uncalled for, yet boys at school had no particular power or control over the fates of the girls as you've indicated Weinstein may have and thereby exploited.
What's amiss, IMO, is that there are simply too many people who cannot, never bothered to learn to, were never taught to, and/or simply refuse to, acknowledge (in their own mind) another's physical attractiveness without also being sexually/physically attracted to that other person, and as a result conduct themselves in ways minor or not so minor aimed at ingratiating themselves with that person, hoping to create a nexus of events that lead to a sexual encounter. I suppose one sort of expects that from adolescents given their hormonally addled intellects and emotions, but among the expectations of an adult is that one has learned how to keep those things in check, as it were.
Lastly, I'll note that it seems to me the predilection for sexually harassing another person has everything to do with the offender's character, frame of mind and worldview. That the persons thus offended are women is merely a reflection of there being more straight folks than gay folks. Kevin Spacey's oblique admission of his actions show us that. [1]
Note:
- I suspect it's just a matter of time before we hear about other specific gay men/women who've sexually harassed others; however, Spacey is not the first gay man of whom we've heard doing so.
