The Atlantic: The accusations against Kevin Spacey this past week have, among other things, presented a challenge of categorization. After the actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of making a sexual advance at him in 1986, when Rapp was 14, more men came forward to allege predatory behavior by the actor. There have been two other accounts of encounters with teenage boys in the ’80s. Eight House of Cards staffers told CNN they saw the star grope and harass crew members.
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The really intriguing and frankly disgusting thing that I saw pointed about Kevin Spacey recently is that people truly see his gayness as more disgusting and scandalous than his pedophilia.
Sexual violence against children is an epidemic in this country. The numbers are frighteningly high. While I entirely understand that it's important to address what role Kevin Spacey's sexuality has to do with it, I really think that adults need to protect children more. There were undoubtedly other adults around that knew that Spacey was preying on boys young enough to be his sons. Those adults should have stood up to Spacey. Money is money and of course people will want to take it if they can. But to completely negate your responsibility to children as an adult because of it is incredibly selfish.
Nuances play a part in everything we do. Race, sex, gender, age, economic standing, and even level of attractiveness play a role in who we believe and what we do about it. Because Spacey's victims were also white men I really hope that America believes them. Children deserve better and I hope that they get better in this case despite it being years too late.
Kevin Spacey's performances in House of Cards have been some of the best performances from an actor that I have ever seen. I have never been more chilled, creeped out, or excited by a guy speaking a monologue into a camera before. And then, I see the allegations against him for sexual assault on many, many minors and general allegations of harassment by coworkers. So, how do audience members move forward and appreciate a gross, unacceptable human's art and not their behavior? To me, it is important to be able to separate a performer's art from their actions, but that is definitely easier said than done. For now, I think that it is good to focus on ways to be allies to victims of sexual assault and harassment, and to focus on not letting a man like Kevin Spacey gain more fame and prize for his work. And a Joss said, "Because Spacey's victims were also white men I really hope that America believes them".
From a legal perspective there is a lot going on here. Can Spacey be prosecuted and if so, should he be? I ask this because the age difference between 24 and 14 is ten years. Most of us don’t think of 10 years as much of an age difference. The caveat here is that The accused was 24 and the accuser was a minor. At what point does it cross over from a consensual sexual encounter and into sexual assault? In this particular article, one of the accusers states that his and the actors sexual relationship was consensual at first but then stop when the actor tried to rape him. Having some background in law, I have a harder time being convinced base on 30 year old hearsay. I’m sorry, wait, no I’m not. How can you recall what happened to you when you were 14? I have a hard time remembering details from last year let alone 25 years ago. Yes it is wrong for any person to prey upon youth but I also have issues with accusers who “recall” things. Why now? Why did it take you so long to come forward? And oh wait, the Weinstein allegations came out a few months ago, so you are just now ready to come forward? So yeah, great article but I am still skeptical about some of these allegations. Despite what was said in an article, sometimes it’s not a power struggle, but rather a mutual agreement. Any one can make an accusation believable, the hard comes in making sure that it’s true.
I don’t want to make light of this and certainly don’t condone what has happened. But, I would ask, why now? The first incident that the article discusses happened in 1986, over 30 years ago. Not having gone through any of these events, I can’t speak to the damage that it causes and the inability to talk about it. Certainly, medical (both physical and mental) and police advances and changing times have helped victims come forward and abusers be identified and be held accountable for various forms of sexual misconduct. I watch a lot of police dramas and this topic is prevalent, as they are often based (though loosely) in reality. One of the things that happens in these shows is that once one person makes an allegation, more people come forward and some of them aren’t actually victims. I wonder how much this happens in real life. Not that I’m trying to discount any of what has happened, but could there be instances of someone saying they were harassed by Spacey (or another celebrity) to get their fifteen minutes of fame? I’ve never been a victim of this type of unwanted sexual conduct, contact or behavior and don’t know how I’d respond or react if I was. I can say that it seems like we are moving in a direction where people have the power to come forward and have their accusations and stories heard. How do we get to a point where these types of things don’t happen? I don’t know. The article makes it sound like Spacey and Rapp may have been alone together. In which case, I would ask why a minor was left, for all intents and purposes, unattended. Though, this was 30 years ago. Perhaps we need more training for people to recognize what is and isn’t considered sexual harassment – both for potential victims and those who might be unaware that their actions could be considered harassment.
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