Hollywood, the Sexual Violence Factory (trigger warnings)

[niyad]

Hollywood, the Sexual Violence Factory



The statement that the primary function of movies is entertainment is clearly not the end of the question. All entertainment is education in some way, many times more effective than schools because of the appeal to the emotions rather than to the intellect.” — Hortense Powdermaker, Hollywood, the Dream Factory

As of this writing, more than 40 women have accused actor and comedian Bill Cosby of sexual assault. When the Cosby story finally went viral in October 2014 (not, notably, because of the gravity and proliferation of complaints, but because of comedian Hannibal Burress’ videotaped stand-up act), the Hollywood spin machine got thrown out of alignment. People, including Cosby’s former co-workers, rushed to his defense. TV son Malcolm Jamal-Warner responded to the allegations, saying, “Just as it’s painful to hear any woman talk about sexual assault, whether true or not, it’s just as painful to watch my friend and mentor go through this. … The Bill Cosby I know has been great to me and great for a lot of people.” Phylicia Rashad took a more aggressive stance on her Cosby Show co-star, complaining, “This is not about the women. This is about something else. This is about the obliteration of a legacy.”

. . . . . .




But patterns and histories lie behind what continue to be represented as exceptional, high-profile tragedies on lists of “bizarre Hollywood deaths.” The accounts of women and men working within this system are replete with instances of sexual violence, often at the hands of serial offenders. What we now know about survivors of sexual violence—that often they have histories of trauma and violent encounters—is true of many of the most celebrated “bombshells” or “sex symbols” in Hollywood, including Judy Garland, Jean Harlow and Marilyn Monroe, mythologized for what was perceived to be their inexplicably suicidal behavior.

. . . .

Lives of women said to be cut “tragically short” by fame were actually—like Harlow’s— cut short by the sexual violence that infused the industry. In the 1950s, aspiring young women hit the Hollywood party circuit in the hope of cashing in on the promises of the dream factory. According to Marilyn Monroe biographer Barbara Leaming, parties like those organized by former United Artists board chairman Joseph Schenck and others—some of Hollywood’s most powerful men—comprised a “a brutal, degrading, sometimes dangerous business” where “in exchange for dinner and the chance to meet some of Hollywood’s most important players, the women were expected to make themselves available” to the guests of rich and powerful film industry executives. That volatile mix of power and alcohol continues to be celebrated today in television shows like Ballers and Entourage.

. . . .



Over the past three years, sexual violence in institutions ranging from the Catholic Church to the military to university campuses has finally begun receiving the attention it deserves. But sexual violence in media industries presents an extraordinarily important challenge for movements against abuse. Media industries (and universities) are in the business of producing representations of, and knowledge about, sexuality and gendered behaviors. When it comes to Hollywood, industry-wide sexual violence has been normalized by images of sexual violence on screen, eroticizing it and making it a narrative staple. Horror films endlessly recycle tropes of sexually active women who are violently dispatched. When other genres include women (and a significant number still do not in any meaningful way), their narratives often begin with the rape, torture or death of women: Braveheart, The Fugitive, Gladiator, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Inception, The Prestige and others too numerous to list. On television, franchises like the eponymous Law and Order series, as well as “quality” shows like Top of the Lake, Twin Peaks, True Detective and The Killing, repeat messages that emphasize these narrative conventions. Dream worlds that show women of all colors and sizes as sexual agents who are happy and healthy and—importantly—alive, such as Magic Mike XXL or Scandal, remain rare indeed.

. . . . .

http://msmagazine.com/blog/2015/11/23/hollywood-the-sexual-violence-factory/

[niyad]

1. . . .

[Octafish]

2. Absolutely.

Bad ideas come from somewhere. Same for evil.

Thank you for the heads-up on a most important subject, niyad!

[niyad]

3. you are most welcome. yes, evil and hatred do not exist in vacuums, but their pervasiveness seems

to engender blinders in people.

[Octafish]

6. The problems of sexual exploitation of females is societal...

...and the images that form our consciousness -- the information environment in which we swim, like fishes unaware of the water in which they live -- form lasting impressions that connect people to absolute evil on a subliminal, if not permanent, level.

Sorry to sound so disjointed. The problems are more than bad ideas and bad writers. Look at the Jimmy Savile case in the UK -- everyone from Queen Mags and Prince Phil to the announcers at BBC and the orderlies at the hospital where he savaged helpless children knew. Yet they did nothing to stop him. That's not fair, though, as some did try. The authorities ignored their reports.

In the USA, everyone knows about the Jerry Sandusky case. Fewer know that the guy's charity to help children may have been more sinister. Nothing has been made public about those connections.

The case that really causes me concern is that of Alabama man John David "Roy" Atchison, an Assistant US Attorney in Florida, who came up to Detroit to meet up with the person he thought was the mother of a child. Instead, the sheriff waited for him at the airport. Atchisson tried to commit suicide in jail, so they moved him to a special cell. There he committed suicide.

http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2010/09/strange-tale-of-pedophile-in-us-justice.html

[niyad]

9. thank you for posting about that case. one that had slipped my mind.

[mythology]

4. It's an interesting article, but I'm not sure it's accurate

Violence against women isn't just a Hollywood thing. It's a society thing. The notion that women might sleep their way to a role isn't an unheard of notion in the regular business world.

And women have been imperiled in fiction for a long time before Hollywood. Go read Titus Andronicus for example and Shakespeare was pretty clearly for his time a feminist.

[niyad]

5. nowhere in the article does it say, or even imply, that violence against women is strictly a

hollywood thing. so how does its existence in the rest of the world negate what is being said in the article? please show where anything in the article is incorrect.

[Bluenorthwest]

20. The article opens with a quote from Powdergood, written in 1950. It's a great article, about the

film biz of 65 years ago, much like Mad Men is great but also not a reporting of current paradigms. Much of it smacks of basic conservative contempt for the arts, frankly. And obviously the implication is that 'Hollywood' is the source of these things, as 'Hollywood' is tagged as the factory that produces sexual violence. A factory manufactures a new product out of raw materials. A car factory makes cars, a sofa factory makes sofas. So what does the title mean to you?

[closeupready]

7. K&R - important issue. Hollywood has SO MANY sexual hang-ups.

I think I see it more clearly now that I've gotten older, but I find that I really can't enjoy almost ANY stuff they are putting out now, as neurotic sexuality seems at the core of many/most American films.

[niyad]

10. I limit my viewing--there is not a lot out that I want to see.

[bklyncowgirl]

8. Just an aside, What is a "trigger" warning? nt

[maxsolomon]

14. Google is your friend

It's been discussed ad nauseum everywhere else on the Intertubes

[Bucky]

11. Thank you for this link.

This is an important article. All media consumers ought to read it

I'll only quibble with the idea that Judy Garland was a sex symbol, but certainly at least part of the dynamic behind her suicide was that she was a commodified and personally powerless women used and pressured by an all-male power establishment to make them money, no matter how hard a toll it took on her personal life.

[niyad]

12. years ago, I was watching some program, not even sure it was primarily about her. but one of the

things that was pointed out was that she and mickey rooney, in making all those andy hardy films, for one, were constantly given uppers to keep them awake during filming, and then sleeping pills--and they were kids at the time. I remember this every time I hear about her drug habit-- a habit that was started by the studio.

[smirkymonkey]

13. K&R

[maxsolomon]

15. Rapey Rape Rape Rape

It's like Screenwriters and Directors just don't know where else to go but back to the Damsel in Distress threat-of-rape or actual rape trope. Every fucking TV show.

The most recent egregious example is Flesh and Bone on Starz. Its a Ballet drama, with real dancers.

Who of course are almost raped by a rich guy, almost raped by their brother, almost prostitutes, probable sexual abuse survivors, definitely strippers.

I love ballet, but I have no need to see that shit again and again. I'd rather watch Julianne Moore have Alzheimers.

[niyad]

16. that scenario does seem to be fairly prevalent onscreen, in books, etc.,

[maxsolomon]

17. Ya think?

There are more lurid rapes and murders on TV than IRL. No wonder 'Murcans are scared to walk to the bathroom without a gun.

[niyad]

18. I don't watch a lot of tv

[maxsolomon]

19. Good plan

Unless it is Game of Thrones. Then its a bad plan.

[Bluenorthwest]

21. And yet GOT has to date shown 50 rapes with 29 victims. Far less than in the books at the same

place in the story line but far more than most shows. So, irony and all that.
http://tafkarfanfic.tumblr.com/post/119770640640/rape-in-asoiaf-vs-game-of-thrones-a-statistical

[maxsolomon]

23. good point

I stand corrected.

[niyad]

22. saw ten minutes of that show--more blood and gore than I have seen in the last three years. no

thanks.