Is Harvey Weinstein a Canary For Our Sexually-Shipwrecked Culture? Absolutely.

(Photo Credit - TheIndependent.co.uk)

Sometimes when you write a blog post about a cultural occurrence, it takes a long time to build an argument.  That should make sense - life can be complicated and we should want to stay from over- simplifying issues that are subtle or nuanced.  

In the case of Harvey Weinstein, the question I'd like to raise here is simple, and it is as follows.

1. The actions taken by Harvey Weinstein over many years in Hollywood are deplorable, heart-breaking, and sinful.

2. We are learning that this kind of behavior - while perhaps most notable with Weinstein - is, unfortunately, not as rare as we might like think.  While the details remain to be seen in many of the most recent cases, we are in the double-digits when it comes to cases of men in positions of power using their influence to sexually harass or assault women.

(Photo Credit: L.A. Times)

Here is my question:

While yes, we should be heart-broken for the pain that has been caused, should we be so shocked?

The reality seems to be that many, many Hollywood movie stars and people of influence in Los Angeles knew about Weinstein's actions and did nothing.  Thus it seems many of them were not shocked when it 'went pubic.'

And I'm not sure we - the average citizen in the United States - should be shocked either.

Without standing on a soapbox and preaching a 'we've lost our footing' and 'America was once a Christian nation' sermon (those kinds of sermons are often rooted in nostalgia rather than in reality), the question I am really asking us is WHY are we so shocked by this behavior?

We have given ourselves over to the gods of self-fulfillment, self-actualization, and self-aggrandizement, and yet we are surprised when people live out of these kinds of ideologies.  

We have rejected a myriad of sexual norms as we've elevated personal expression over fidelity and the psyche over the body.  These are not just norms held by Christians that we've rejected - they are norms the most civil societies have lived with for millennia.

We have - for all intents and purposes - said, "Do whatever you please when it comes to sex", and then when we see men abuse this kind of unrooted power, we are legitimately angered and saddened, but I am kind of shocked that we are shocked.

Yes, Weinstein is responsible. Yes, he should face the full legal ramifications of his actions.  

But are we brave enough as a culture to look into our own lives and ask how we have accepted and encouraged a sexual standard that harms others, a sexual standard that leverages power to prey on the less powerful.  Are we willing to see how we may have helped to feed the beast of sexual assault?

How do we respond?  

This will be addressed in a future post.

For now - be sad and angry, but for me - I'm unfortunately not shocked.

- tC