generalspeaking

Saturday, August 04, 2018

There's Always Another Side To The Story....Perhaps Not Exoneration Entirely, But Thought-Provoking

"[No one] understands me quite like you [do]."
"[I really appreciate] all you do for me."
"It would be great to see you again."
"Miss you, big guy."
"Was hoping for some time privately with you to share the direction I am going in life and catch up."
"I was so happy you see me today! Very honoured."
"There is no one else I would enjoy catching up with that understands me quite like you."
"I love you, always do. But I hate feeling like a booty call."
Unnamed accuser of Harvey Weinstein

"The motions filed today reflect the first opportunity for Mr. Weinstein to present legal arguments as to why the indictment filed against him should be dismissed."
"These communications irrefutably reflect the true nature of this consensual intimate friendship, which never at any time included a forcible rape."
"[Prosecutors knew of the emails but] likely [didn't present a full picture of the communications to the grand jury, making the process] fundamentally unfair."
"[The District Attorney] allowed the Grand Jury to hear a sanitized and distorted version of [the accuser's] true relationship and interactions with [Weinstein]."
Benjamin Brafman, Weinstein lawyer

"[Grand jurors] would not have indicted him if they did not find the testimony that they heard credible."
"Why is Mr. Weinstein seeking to avoid facing a jury in a criminal trial?"
Gloria Alred, lawyer for a woman accusing Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein hopes to gain access to documents that are ‘uniquely personal’ to him, through a lawsuit against The Weinstein Company. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

No fewer than four hundred messages passed between former celebrity Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and the woman who had come forward to accuse him of having raped her in March of 2013 in a hotel room. This man, seen as arrogant, and uncompromisingly self-centered was known to hit on women in a tradition made famous long before he was born known as the 'casting couch'. In the years that have passed since that reference became a standing joke, it appears not much has changed; favours for 'favours' evidently ushered many women to Hollywood acting roles and success.

And Mr. Weinstein was seen as an exemplar of that trade deal. The wheeling and dealing of sex for opportunities appeared to be generally known and by and large accepted as 'normal' in a profession that was as far from 'normal' as fantasy could make it, because fantasy sells and so does sex. Many actors singled this man out as having been responsible for recognizing their talent and ushering them on to opportunities and heralded celebrity status and fandom approved.

Women have always and universally been the object of male fantasies, objectification, oppression, maulings, violence, rape, humiliation, degradation. In a way, circling the wagons around women's right to fair and just treatment and calling the sheriff to ride after a man of singular power in the make-pretend world of Hollywood, living his own world of take-what-you can, reflected the only real-world aspect of Tinseltown. And Harvey Weinstein seemed to take full advantage of opportunities.

Daryl Hannah, Annabella Sciorra and Salma Hayek (l.t.r.) are among actors accusing Harvey Weinstein. Composite: Rex

Perhaps, however, he had plenty of willing accomplices who resorted to tried-and-true tactics of 'getting ahead' whatever the cost. In a world of easier, casual sex that transaction might not have been too difficult for many in exchange for a leg up. For others it might have represented the ultimate humiliation to be viewed and treated as a convenience at the pleasure of the magic-maker. The slights and slings aimed at vulnerable women since time immemorial no doubt had a hand in the downfall of this man, exemplifying as he did the carnal criminal by default.

But the fact is this woman who has never been publicly identified, brought Mr. Weinstein toppling down from his pedestal. His penalty for being himself represents a massive life-loss. Her missives to him, submissive and fawning, pre- and post-dated her claims that this man, her benefactor, raped her. None of the emails of the hundreds examined accused him of anything, what they did was illuminate an intimate relationship that was consensual -- if a quasi-business arrangement like that could be considered so -- and ongoing.

In actual fact, the accused and the accuser shared an intimate relationship that stretched into years where both sought and arranged to meet for various assignations at various places. That they had sex is undeniable. That he raped her on one occasion seems implausible and therefore deniable, given the circumstances. The messages, from 2013 to 2017 reflected one possible resentment, when she wrote of her hatred of "feeling like a booty call", for a hotel assignation she couldn't make, citing a scheduling conflict.

Clockwise from top left: Rosanna Arquette, Mira Sorvino, Zoe Brock and Ambra Battilana Gutierrez. Composite: Getty

Seventy-five women, apparently, have raised their voices publicly, accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct on a long scale from harassment to assault, taking place wherever people happened to find themselves in a busy, self-promoting profession whose tactics were timeworn and glossed over. Harvey Weinstein did a great favour to women; he is single-handedly responsible for having inspired the #MeToo movement calling out sexual malfeasance.

It is instructive to learn that prosecutors are not obliged in New York appeals courts to present grand jurors with all available and pertinent evidence in any form that could conceivably aid a defendant in his self-defence. Prosecutors are, however, under an obligation to do their utmost to see justice prevail, and not just focus on successful convictions.

And Harvey Weinstein is a changed man for the experience. Chastened and regretful. Who wouldn't be?

Labels: #MeToo, Accusations, Hollywood, Notoriety, Sexual Predation