By KAYLA DEMICCO
Staff Writer
At this point, some people are probably wondering why there have been so many people convicted of sexual assault within a short amount of time, along with an overwhelmingly large amount of accusers. These serial predators have not committed all of these acts of crimes recently, they have been doing so for quite a while and some have threatened their victims that if they were to tell anyone, worse things will happen. Victims have been feeling empowered and not letting their abuser go off the hook for their wrong doings.
The more victims come forward about their sexual assault experiences and their offenders, the more they realize that they are not alone; regardless of their gender, race, sexual orientation, or class. Just like anyone can be a victim, anyone can also be the offender. However, it keeps on coming back to old white males in the position of threat. But I’m not saying that all older white men are dangerous and will commit the same crimes. Their demographical privilege allows them to have a less harsh punishment than someone of a group who is more oppressed. Infamous white males who have gotten light punishments and have committed sexual assault acts are Brock Turner who only got a sentence of 3 months, Harvey Weinstein was only fired from his company and condemned from the entertainment industry, Kevin Spacey had his popular show “House of Cards” canceled, but checked himself in to seek treatment as his publicist and agents dropped him, Dustin Hoffman who hasn’t gotten any punishment as of now, and Donald Trump has gotten no punishment at all and is still the president. These veterans in the entertainment industry feel like they can’t be touched or penalized due to their fame and celebrity status.
It’s unjust that these men among others haven’t received a real punishment and the victims have to know that their abusers are still allowed to wander around in public. Not only is it unjust for that, but also because of the fact that if it were a man of color to commit these crimes, they would be treated much differently. Bill Cosby was immediately labeled as a “serial rapist” in the news headlines while the others had their profession listed and what awards they won and movies they were in. Bill Cosby was (and still is) put in the process of a trial.
Unlike the others, Spacey had actually apologized to his first victim, Anthony Rapp, but claimed that he didn’t remember the encounter, calling it “inappropriate drunken behavior” on Twitter. But also unlike the others, Spacey also blamed his actions on his sexuality as a gay man (he previously identified as bisexual). Not only was that a poor excuse for his awful behavior but he also fueled an old stereotype (some people actually believe today) put upon gay people and the LGBTQ+ community that they’re dangerous pedophiles. This horrible myth started circulating in the 1970s when anti-gay groups started to form and since then gay people have often been wrongly portrayed as predatory sexual deviants. It’s been scientifically proven that there is no connection between pedophila and homosexuality. His timing for coming out as gay couldn’t be more off because there is a large majority of gay men who wouldn’t even think about doing what he did.
With all the people who have made accusations of misconduct amongst these men, the public is getting skeptical and questioning whether they’re telling the truth or not. They would believe that the assault survivors were only stepping up to join the bandwagon and get their 15 minutes of fame.
