The Weinstein Legacy: He’s Not The Only One

Nothing is sweeter than watching a bloated, creepy old fool swallow a good dose of justice after committing lifelong indiscretions in the film and cinema industry.

Weinstein’s story is yesterday’s news, but it got me thinking: who else needs that kind of karma too? Weinstein can’t be the only powerful person in that industry who used their position to get something they wanted.

Before you start mistaking me for someone about to jump on the #metoo train, I’m not leaping that way at all. I’m going in the exact opposite direction. I’m about to talk about the females who participate in those deals that include sex: The actresses.

Consider this: A powerful man doesn’t have to force women to have sex with him. They’ll offer themselves because he’s a powerful man. The lines blur only if he initiates the process, not her. Power, money, and career advancement encourage such behaviour — from both sides of the sexual divide. Weinstein simply jumped the gun.

Let’s face it: movie-making is a dirty, selfish, narcissistic business. Everyone is a wannabe prince or a princess looking to make it big. And some don’t care who they burn along the way.

Starlets who regularly miss out on choice roles will ramp up their efforts to score that big break. Not every actress initiates a sexual deal, but some will do anything. Yes, he has industry power, but she has something pretty powerful, too. She can balance things in her favour if she chooses.

I’m not blaming the women (or men) for making sexual deals or excusing anyone for accepting sex as currency. I’m just saying that this story has two sides, and we often only look at one. Neither sex is blameless. Weinstein just got too arrogant with his approach. He initiated and forced the issue. The public was exposed to the filthy side of Hollywood, and we were disgusted at what we saw.

But let’s not forget the seductive women. An actress knows how to turn it up the heat if she needs to get that breakthrough job. Sex can bring her more significant acting parts sooner. What she might do for a few minutes in a bedroom can positively affect her career for decades to come. A decent BJ has the potential to improve her life in more ways (and longer) than it does his. It’s something we purposefully ignore.

Here’s the bit that really upsets me:

If he initiates, it’s creepy and wrong. If she sets it up, we don’t discuss it.

Of course, no actress has publicly announced that she used sex to get ahead in her career. But competing starlets know the truth about what can happen in the audition line.

Harvey Weinstein’s incarceration was a pointless act. The next powerful man steps up, and another ambitious starlet makes a deal that includes her body. And the process starts all over again.

We’ll be no wiser to those bedroom deals until something in the power balance tips, and a string of annoyed females are prepared to confirm the worst about a man: Powerful directors regularly abusing their position by promising acting promotions in exchange for sexual favours.

The evil ogre is dragged out and lynched, witnessed by a baying crowd that doesn’t consider that the offer may have come from her side of the table. She wanted more, but he didn’t adequately honour the deal.

No man should be incarcerated for suggesting sex in exchange for a better role, and no woman should be arrested for doing it either. (It’s repugnant but not illegal.)

Yet no starlet will face the crowd for deals she initiates. She won’t go to jail for seducing a director. No female does anything wrong when it comes to sex, despite being willing to accept sexual deals when they’re offered, initiating them when required, benefiting from their outcomes, and then remaining silent about how sex advanced their careers, manipulating the males they met along the way.

Men are the ones who go to jail for doing that.

That’s what modern equity looks like in a world demanding full-time fairness and equality.

–Mitchell