Unproven Allegations Should Not Be Cause For Public Shaming
by John Lawrence
Every day a whole host of people are coming forward to blame someone - not Joe Six Pac - but someone famous, of having made unwanted sexual advances 20, 30 even 40 years ago. Most of these are frivolous; they just add to the media circus around this issue that's become a rolling ball. Harvey Weinstein got the ball rolling, and now there are more and more allegations. All these women (and men) coming forward are just alleging bad conduct. Nothing has been proven especially in a court of law. Whatever happened to due process and the rule of law? The simple fact of the situation is that none of these allegations rises to the level of being pursued in a court of law.
But they are salacious and scurrilous and titillating. That sells media, and that's what this is all about in addition to being a public shaming of the men involved. The actor, Richard Dreyfuss, was accused recently by Jessica Teich of exposing himself. Dreyfuss said in a lengthy statement that he never exposed himself but did "flirt with" Teich and tried to kiss her "as part of what I thought was a consensual seduction ritual." Dreyfuss added that he is "horrified and bewildered to discover that it wasn't consensual." Well, isn't that the point? How did Dreyfuss know is wasn't consensual unless Teich said so at the time. What might have seemed consensual 40 years ago has perhaps been reevaluated by Teich so that now she has decided it wasn't consensual. In fact after 40 years she considers it to be harassment.
Nowhere in all these sexual harassment situations is it ever considered that these men, if married, were committing adultery so that the woman who was really wronged was the guy's wife, not some woman with whom he may have been trying to have sex with. I guess the whole adultery thing is totally irrelevant at this point in time.
So it's easy to allege things, to accuse people of wrongdoing even though the accuser knows these matters will never wind up in court. It's all about the court of public opinion, and if enough women pile on, so to speak, a man's reputation can be ruined, his career can be ruined, his life can be ruined. This isn't what due process and the rule of law is all about. It's not even what human rights are all about. But it sells media and gets media attention at the expense of ruining some men's lives. Many relationships which were once considered consensual are now in retrospect considered not to have been consensual after much water has passed over the dam. If the woman was raped, she needed to come forward at the time and have the matter considered in a court of law to determine the facts and appropriate punishment if guilt is established. Otherwise, she should just keep her mouth shut especially over stuff that purportedly happened 40 years ago.
