George Takei, a much beloved celebrity and activist in the Asian community, was recently accused of sexually assaulting a young man some 40 years ago. Takei is best known for his role in Star Trek and as a huge advocate of LGBTQA+ rights.Though sexual harassment in Hollywood is not new, this ongoing case brought about some every interest boundaries as to what we defined as sexual assault.
Though I am always inclined to believe the victim in cases such as these, because it is difficult to find for results when your abuser is a well-loved public figure, the specific circumstances regarding this case is ambiguous.
The incident, by the victim’s account, had taken place more than 40 years ago; which in and of itself, does not make it excusable. Assault is assault regardless of how long ago it had taken place. The blurred lines come in play when the victim stated that both of them were intoxicated and when he express discomfort to Takei’s advances, shoved him off, Takei just sat by as he left the building. The incident certainly fall under sexual assault because Takei did make advances without first checking for the victim’s consent, but he also stopped as soon as the victim rejected those advances. Does that not fall under our mentality of “No Means No”?
Is it also worth considering that the victim had only recently made the accusations when other public figures are being accused and the victims are getting lots of media attention as well?
This is really interesting the fact that they didn't say anything until they realized they can get attention from it. I believe that being sexual assaulted is not a joke and not an advantage, the fact that they are using that to get the medias attention is very disrespectful. Their are people around the world that are real victims of sexual assault but those people are called liars and are brushed off.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that there are definitely blurred lines here, but I think that the media ultimately helped this person come forward. With all of the media attention surrounding sexual assault, I think that could have helped this person come forward. In many ways the recent events have caused a domino affect in exposing these abusers. While it may seem that the victim is simply trying to get their moment in the spotlight, the fact is that the media attention has helped many feel comfortable sharing their stories. I think that the media attention surrounding these cases is positive as it has allowed for more people to come forward with their assault experiences, and people are more willing to believe the victim unlike in the past.
ReplyDeleteI am definitely in support of the domino effect of exposing abusers, but I also think that we should be careful when we "choose sides"; specifically in the idea that we should be acknowledge the victim's account of these events, but also tread the line of "innocent until proven guilty" because these are public figures and backlashes are felt more immediately than a private individual.
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