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Sexual Harassment In Hollywood

Is This Sexual Harassment?

  • Yes

    Votes: 2 22.2%

  • No

    Votes: 4 44.4%

  • Other

    Votes: 3 33.3%
  • Total voters
    9
Moderate Right

Moderate Right

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Well, this has been the flavor of the last month so I wanted to ask in a poll if the following is sexual harassment. How far are we going to take this?

OK. Let's first talk about the casting couch. It is fairly easy to argue that if you visit the casting couch and you are asked to do certain things in exchange for being casted in a movie, that that could possibly catapult your career into stardom, fame and money. And, of course, the more slimy people could say that if you became a star as a result then, maybe, it was worth the price you paid. On the other hand, maybe you paid the price but didn't get casted in the movie at all and basically, um, um, got screwed. Or, maybe you did get the part but the movie was a bomb and then I guess you could say that your "investment" did not pay off. Let's say that a slimy person could argue that this was sort of like prostitution, you sell yourself and get something in return for your "time" and that this is not really sexual harassment at all but a "professional business arrangement, agreed to by both parties". OK, I don't want to really start a debate on this so I'll concede that this was sexual harassment.

Now that I've laid out my foundation, so to speak, I'm getting into the crux of my poll question. Let's say that there actually was not a casting couch at all in my poll question example but you (let's say you are a female for the sake of argument) read for a part in a movie that involved nudity. Maybe we can even say that you are Sharon Stone reading for the lead in the movie "Basic Instinct". If I remember correctly, Sharon Stone was not really much of a household name before the movie but catapulted to stardom, fame, and money afterwards. Is it sexual harassment if a movie calls for nudity (or a quick flash) and the reason you did it was because you felt pressured with the need to work and wanted to "become a star"? Can it be argued that just the fact that a movie calls for nudity and sex scenes, that this is actually a form of sexual harassment because you feel you have to do this in order to take a chance at being a star (or even just to pay your bills)? If you were to turn down the movie with nudity, flashes, or sex scenes you may wind up falling into the trash heap of aspiring actresses that were sucked into the black hole of nothingness, never to be seen or heard from again (kind of like what might happen if you didn't pay the casting couch price to get ahead). Of course we are going to assume that a majority of male movie goers want to see some skin and sex scenes and, to some extent, women do too.

So, is it sexual harassment just for women to be subjected to reading for a movie that involved, nudity, sex scenes, flashes, and the like? After all, they could make movies with no skin, no sex, no flashes, etc. and women could just be casted as women instead of sex objects.
 
After reading your post, I can only conclude that you lack a grasp of what sexual harassment is.
 
pillars said:
After reading your post, I can only conclude that you lack a grasp of what sexual harassment is.
Click to expand...

Thank you... because that was some convoluted reasoning...
 
pillars said:
seriously, though, what the hell was that?
Click to expand...

I'll take a stab after speed reading that... it is an attempt to dismiss women's claims at sexual harassment...
 
Bodhisattva said:
Thank you... because that was some convoluted reasoning...
Click to expand...

And he was correct, a script is not sexual harrassment. The OP has no idea what sexual harrsssment is.
 
Bodhisattva said:
I'll take a stab after speed reading that... it is an attempt to dismiss women's claims at sexual harassment...
Click to expand...

That seems likely.

Basically seems to put forward the idea that you can't sexually harass a woman who is in a film with nudity. Or that playing a nude part is being sexually harassed.

Here's a tip for the OP. Being nude in a movie ISN'T sexual harassment (a lot of actresses are never even nude, they have body doubles), and it is something that people choose freely to do (or not). Being subjected to unwanted sexual attention IS sexual harassment.

Just because a woman gets nude in front of a camera doesn't mean that she wants to get nude WITH YOU, or have you touch her nude body.
 
Last edited:
pillars said:
After reading your post, I can only conclude that you lack a grasp of what sexual harassment is.
Click to expand...

You mean you think that it is something other than he does? What?
 
Here's an educational article about sexual harassment for those who are still having difficulty understanding why you can't grope other people's bodies.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/20/sexual-harassment-women-curfew

And for the record, almost every woman of my acquaintance has been sexually harassed.

The first time I was harassed on the job, I was 25 years old, and on a business trip with my 50-something (new) boss. Our first day in Fargo, North Dakota, he invited me to come to his hotel room for a massage. I politely declined and explained that I was MARRIED. He didn't take it well. Almost every day, it was some new request to touch my body or for me to touch him. When I kept declining, he started badmouthing me around the company, and in our interactions, he referred to me as a frigid bitch.

Ironically, this was during the Clarence Thomas hearings. I learned a lot from those hearings. I learned that if I complained publicly, he would still win, and I would lose because I would be labeled a troublemaker and man-hater. Finally, his boss was replaced by a new female boss, and he stopped sexually harassing me, probably because he realized it was no longer an old boys club.

He was not the first, and he wasn't the last, but thankfully I'm now old enough that most of that has stopped.
 
No, it's not. No one is being forced or pressured to do anything. If you don't want to be in a movie that has that you don't read for it. Simple.
 
holbritter said:
No, it's not. No one is being forced or pressured to do anything. If you don't want to be in a movie that has that you don't read for it. Simple.
Click to expand...

To play devils advocate though, What about a college professor who wants to date and have sex with one of his female students not doing so well in his class? Doesn't she maybe feel pressure? Can't she just say no?

What about a boss who wants to date an employee and have sex? Doesn't she maybe feel pressure? Can't she just say no?

What about a female working at Hooters? Doesn't she feel the pressure to do her job properly? Can't she just say no?

What about that starving actress reading for a part in a movie with nudity? Doesn't she maybe feel pressure? Can't she just say no?
 
pillars said:
I didn't vote, because your poll was poorly structured and illogical.
Click to expand...

Can't answer it can you? You're scared to answer it. If you are so confident that you know what sexual harassment is then it is an easy answer.
 
Bodhisattva said:
I didn't vote but if I did I was going to Vote: Other... as in WTF?
Click to expand...

If you are so confident that you know what sexual harassment is then it is an easy answer for you. You are actually scared to vote!
 
pillars said:
Here's an educational article about sexual harassment for those who are still having difficulty understanding why you can't grope other people's bodies.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/20/sexual-harassment-women-curfew

And for the record, almost every woman of my acquaintance has been sexually harassed.

The first time I was harassed on the job, I was 25 years old, and on a business trip with my 50-something (new) boss. Our first day in Fargo, North Dakota, he invited me to come to his hotel room for a massage. I politely declined and explained that I was MARRIED. He didn't take it well. Almost every day, it was some new request to touch my body or for me to touch him. When I kept declining, he started badmouthing me around the company, and in our interactions, he referred to me as a frigid bitch.

Ironically, this was during the Clarence Thomas hearings. I learned a lot from those hearings. I learned that if I complained publicly, he would still win, and I would lose because I would be labeled a troublemaker and man-hater. Finally, his boss was replaced by a new female boss, and he stopped sexually harassing me, probably because he realized it was no longer an old boys club.

He was not the first, and he wasn't the last, but thankfully I'm now old enough that most of that has stopped.
Click to expand...

He's a jerk and impolite. Is it criminal? It shouldn't be. Should he be fired? It depends. I would. But that's my private preference.
 
Moderate Right said:
Well, this has been the flavor of the last month so I wanted to ask in a poll if the following is sexual harassment. How far are we going to take this?

OK. Let's first talk about the casting couch. It is fairly easy to argue that if you visit the casting couch and you are asked to do certain things in exchange for being casted in a movie, that that could possibly catapult your career into stardom, fame and money. And, of course, the more slimy people could say that if you became a star as a result then, maybe, it was worth the price you paid. On the other hand, maybe you paid the price but didn't get casted in the movie at all and basically, um, um, got screwed. Or, maybe you did get the part but the movie was a bomb and then I guess you could say that your "investment" did not pay off. Let's say that a slimy person could argue that this was sort of like prostitution, you sell yourself and get something in return for your "time" and that this is not really sexual harassment at all but a "professional business arrangement, agreed to by both parties". OK, I don't want to really start a debate on this so I'll concede that this was sexual harassment.

Now that I've laid out my foundation, so to speak, I'm getting into the crux of my poll question. Let's say that there actually was not a casting couch at all in my poll question example but you (let's say you are a female for the sake of argument) read for a part in a movie that involved nudity. Maybe we can even say that you are Sharon Stone reading for the lead in the movie "Basic Instinct". If I remember correctly, Sharon Stone was not really much of a household name before the movie but catapulted to stardom, fame, and money afterwards. Is it sexual harassment if a movie calls for nudity (or a quick flash) and the reason you did it was because you felt pressured with the need to work and wanted to "become a star"? Can it be argued that just the fact that a movie calls for nudity and sex scenes, that this is actually a form of sexual harassment because you feel you have to do this in order to take a chance at being a star (or even just to pay your bills)? If you were to turn down the movie with nudity, flashes, or sex scenes you may wind up falling into the trash heap of aspiring actresses that were sucked into the black hole of nothingness, never to be seen or heard from again (kind of like what might happen if you didn't pay the casting couch price to get ahead). Of course we are going to assume that a majority of male movie goers want to see some skin and sex scenes and, to some extent, women do too.

So, is it sexual harassment just for women to be subjected to reading for a movie that involved, nudity, sex scenes, flashes, and the like? After all, they could make movies with no skin, no sex, no flashes, etc. and women could just be casted as women instead of sex objects.
Click to expand...

Nope. It's harassment to ask them to do, what they do in the movie.
 
Moderate Right said:
To play devils advocate though, What about a college professor who wants to date and have sex with one of his female students not doing so well in his class? Doesn't she maybe feel pressure? Can't she just say no?

What about a boss who wants to date an employee and have sex? Doesn't she maybe feel pressure? Can't she just say no?

What about a female working at Hooters? Doesn't she feel the pressure to do her job properly? Can't she just say no?

What about that starving actress reading for a part in a movie with nudity? Doesn't she maybe feel pressure? Can't she just say no?
Click to expand...

The difference being that all those examples have the person already being involved or an employee already. They are already in the 'work place' so the risk is losing the job. The actress wanna be doesn't have the job yet.

But yes, they can all say no. It's their choice.
 
Moderate Right said:
If you are so confident that you know what sexual harassment is then it is an easy answer for you. You are actually scared to vote!
Click to expand...

I explained why I didn't vote. Your question is convoluted nonsense...

But... but... no ... NOOOOO!!! Don't accuse me of being afraid... sniff sniff.
 
joG said:
He's a jerk and impolite. Is it criminal? It shouldn't be. Should he be fired? It depends. I would. But that's my private preference.
Click to expand...

It wasn't criminal, it was however illegal sexual harassment, and he should have been fired.
 
pillars said:
It wasn't criminal, it was however illegal sexual harassment, and he should have been fired.
Click to expand...

I don't really think it should be illegal, though, parents should teach their kids not to act like that and how to deal with it, if they see it happen.
 
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