Since the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke last week, he tried to defend himself. He claimed the following:
“I came of age in the ’60s and ’70s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different. That was the culture then.”
I have mixed feelings about this statement, though I think it is still bullsh*t. The 1960’s and 1970’s were a time of change in America. Women were starting to not just enter the workplace in greater numbers, but they were also starting to work in fields and positions that previously were open to men only. At the time, some men might have chafed at working with women on an equal level. I call it bullsh*t because we are not living in either the 1960’s or 1970’s anymore. But he seems to think so.
Weinstein is trying to defend himself, but his defense does not hold water. His defense does not hold water because not only did he know exactly what he was doing, but he also is not the only male to have grown up in the 1960’s and 1970’s. There is a whole generation of men who grew up in the era, I doubt every single one of them used their professional positions to procure sexual favors from female subordinates.
It is also not a generational thing because this kind of abuse has been going on for time immemorial. It’s time we admitted it, faced the truth and stopped this abuse once and for all.
Writergurlny 