
Originally Posted by
Jadedoldman65
I'm going to go full disclosure as well, even if it brings a storm on me; Harvey Weinstein is guilty of sexual harassment, not of any form of sexual assault. I'm sure the California laws are fairly close to those here in flyover country, in that one of the definitions of sexual harassment is connecting sexual acts with employment or employment opportunity. Yes, he's guilty of that. However, I have to wonder how many of the his accusers either proposed the exchange or went to meet with him fully expecting him to offer the exchange.
As I stated in another post, the women who accused him were not naive girls right off of the farm; they were young actresses who had spent at least a few years struggling to break into the entertainment industry and knew the sleazy side of the industry and of Weinstein himself. I do not believe that when one of them received an offer to meet with Weinstein, in his hotel room, to "discuss an opportunity" she didn't know what sort of deal Harvey had in mind. No, that doesn't make it right, it doesn't make it legal, but it does make it something other than assault.
Harvey fit the narrative perfectly; he's an unattractive, older white man with a great deal of power in the entertainment industry. He used this power to get sexual enjoyment from younger, attractive women. In several first hand accounts, the women emphasized how repugnant they found him, not the circumstances that put them in the situation. These women accepted a choice; give Harvey a little action and get a part that might turn into a big break or say no to Harvey and continue to struggle with bit parts and hope for a break that might never come.
Nobody, man or woman, should ever have to face the choice of providing sexual favors in order to get a job. That's why (in my opinion) he should have been prosecuted. However, he did not rape or sexually assault his "victims". The charges should have been sexual harassment or perhaps soliciting prostitution. However, he fit the narrative so well that everyone jumped on the "Harvey is Satan incarnate" bandwagon, in order to deflect any investigation of themselves.