Tuesday, November 14, 2017
Instead of mourning great art tainted by awful men, mourn the work we lost from their victims
Vox: Of all the recent headlines concerning sexual harassment in Hollywood and beyond, the revelations about comedian Louis C.K. sexually harassing women throughout his career have most strongly reignited the age-old debate on separating an artist from their art: whether you can, and whether you should.
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This article presents an incredibly important and often forgotten point: regardless of whether or not justice is served to the abuser or assailant, the mental state, career, and dreams of the victim are all too often marred by the experience. Whether this comes directly from the situational reality and relationship between the harasser and the victim, such as the professional relationships between all the women in Hollywood that have come forward to confess their experiences with sexual harassment. In those particular situations, the women that have been affected may have felt pressured to do so in order to not cause a stink, or even on a darker note, in order to keep their job or to advance their careers. Workplace harassment presents an unbelievable cruel ultimatum to the women who are affected by it: lose their job they have worked so hard to get to, potentially undergo further embarrassment by confessing to their situation, or have to deal with the guilt and trauma of having never addressed the harassment they faced.
This article looks at a different side of the ever-growing issue of sexual assault and harassment that we are constantly seeing reports on. Typically, when a new report comes out of a man in power sexually harassing someone the entire story focuses around the apology that is issued, or lack thereof, and the repercussions that will fall upon the guy. This article points out the obvious fact that we often don’t examine, and that is that the victims are victims. I didn’t realize the repercussions that would fall upon these victims beyond the specific feelings that exist after being harassed or assaulted. It is clear that careers have been stymied by men who are stupid and cruel whether they realize it or not. I have heard of the boss/assistant situation that this article talks about where a male boss harasses a female assistant, and because of the power dynamic, the boss keeps his job and the assistant decides to quit. This situation goes beyond the office workplace and it is clear that women who feel uncomfortable in a certain field have to leave the field because they know the guy won’t. This is a problem and the fact that so many stories are coming out is a step in the right direction, but it is clear there is a long way to go.
I love what this author of the article brought up. She is so right in claiming that everyone has been extremely focused on the effects of blank on his films but yet no one discusses the potential of the victim. Every female or man that was harassed or assaulted had the potential to become something great and had to give up on their dreams and plans because of the trauma caused and influence of these powerful men in the entertainment industry. It was also interesting to actually read the perspectives of some of the women who were harassed/ assaulted as they tried to rise in the industry and struggled because of an event they didn’t even ask for. I agree with what the author said at the end of this article. We should be thinking about the films created by these criminals as well as the victims and the loss of potential art.
I am exhausted with hearing about assailants “lost potential”. I don’t care if they were headed down a path to be one of the greatest athletes known to man. I don’t care if they were brilliant. I don’t care if they were really nice to their childhood pets. All of that is void when they make the decision to violently degrade another human being’s basic rights. It is time to allow the victims to take back the power they once had to pursue their happiness. They are allowed to be more than the trauma they faced because that pain is not a reflection of who they are at their core. It does not mean they deserve to be taken advantage of for the rest of their life. The assailant’s behavior reflects on how they value themselves over the rest of humanity. It shows their belief that they have the right to degrade the people around them, and that is unacceptable on every level.
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