"Woke" Hollywood Vice

Nearly nothing is quite as preposterous as the self-righteous moral preening of the Hollywood elites. As we anxiously await this year’s Oscar awards presentation, those of us who still have the poor sense to watch the spectacle gird our loins awaiting the non-stop barrage of jokes, insults and put-downs… all directed at the Republican president and his party. This year we also expect an outpouring of outrage ... directed against the NRA.

In other terms, you know what is going to happen. You know what will be said. You know who will be showered with ridicule. Certainly, you can find a better way to spend an evening.

Anyway, the moral paragons and dimwitted high school dropouts who inhabit Tinseltown are not up in arms against male sexual predators. They have become militants and activists, mobilized by the #MeToo movement. Even a wonderful actress like Jennifer Lawrence has said that she would give up acting for a year in order to “save democracy.” If that’s the best that democracy can do, it’s time to give up. Since Lawrence has gained well-deserved fame for pretending to be someone she is not, she would do better not to pop the bubble of illusion.

Anyway, USA Today surveyed Hollywood women and asked how many of them had been sexually assaulted or harassed while on the job. A reasonable question, don’t you think? They sent out the survey questionnaire, so the results were self-selected. That being said, USA Today was shocked and surprised to discover that 94% of actresses had suffered some form of sexual harassment.

I will note that the woke politically correct crowd in Hollywood no longer calls female actors… actresses. It calls them actors, the better to bring gender neuterdom to their world. Yet another absurd gesture toward equality, it had little effect on predatory Hollywood directors and producers. All of whom, I promise you, were using the politically correct word while insisting that young women could never work in Hollywood unless they were willing to audition in the nude. What a surprise!

USA Today reports:

The first number you see is 94% — and your eyes pop with incredulity.

But it's true: Almost every one of hundreds of women questioned in an exclusive survey by USA TODAY say they have experienced some form of sexual harassment or assault during their careers in Hollywood….

Unwanted sexual comments and groping. Propositioning women. Exposing themselves. Coercing women into having sex or doing something sexual. And, especially pertinent to showbiz, forcing women to disrobe and appear naked at an audition without prior warning.

It's been deeply disturbing reading, but so far the powerful stories of accusers outnumber plain, hard facts about the extent of the problem in Tinseltown. Until now.

Did these women, who had had their consciousness raised by the constant public discussion of sexual harassment, fight back? No, they did not. When they did, nothing changed anyway.

Only one in four women reported these experiences to anyone because of fear of personal or professional backlash or retaliation. This reporting rate holds true for all forms of misconduct addressed in the survey, including being forced to do something sexual. 

Of those who did report their experiences, most say reporting did not help them; only 28% say their workplace situation improved after reporting. 

Of course, we have been having a national conversation about workplace sexual harassment for nearly three decades now. Apparently, all it has done is give men ideas and allow women to believe that it is the norm:

One surprising finding: Even though America has been arguing about workplace sexual harassment ever since the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearings in 1991, more than one-third of women surveyed weren't even sure that what happened to them was sexual harassment. 

Without doing any further research, I can assure you that the men perpetrating these assaults were proud feminists. I promise you that they all voted for Hillary Clinton. After all, they were merely following the example set by Bubba himself. And they knew that if they had been caught, Hillary would defend them to the death against the “vast right wing conspiracy.”