‘#Me Too’: a Full Frontal Attack on the Arts?

‘#Me Too’ has become a full frontal attack on the arts. It’s a shame, because the original aim of the movement was to combat sexism, everywhere. This was a noble idea. But '#Me Too," unfortunately, has moved on. 

Consider this. I go online or pick up my newspaper, and the latest salacious headline centres on a choreographer, symphony conductor, gay photographer, or -- mostly likely -- James Franco. Regrettably, such arts-related news leads to random editorial musings, which begin with thoughts like: "Fascinatingly, Albert Schultz was considered a ‘pioneer in theatrical exploration’ who ‘pushed boundaries.’" Soon the pundits move on. They just can’t help wondering -- "Was Louis C.K.’s shocking comic material --- which often dealt frankly with sexual subjects -- in any way related to his backstage sexual perversions?"

It’s time to ask ask a much more important question. Where are the business and corporate leaders who are sexual molesters? Are we to believe that no women at Google, Exon, Dupont, Apple,Tim Hortons or Canadian Tire have ever been molested by their bosses? Apparently. And yet we know this isn't true. The question is, why are people champing at the bit to punish potential sex criminals in the arts, while at the same time leaving corporate and business leaders unscathed?

If this continues it can only lead us to the depressing conclusion that ‘#Me Too’ is not an actual political movement destined to transform the sexual dynamics between men and women forever but just the latest google trend. I say this because unfortunately '#Me Too' (like every other movement in western culture) seems quite helpless when confronted with corporate capitalism.

On the contrary, instead of criticizing the arts, it is time to praise artists for their courage. Perhaps the reason so many arts organizations are confronting sexism is because the arts have always been at the forefront of this issue. And artistic environment environments -- unlike corporate entities -- are not generally confined to money-making enterprises, but instead quite often are politically aware institutions that seek to forge cultural change.

I do not in any way wish to minimalize  the significance of any attack on any woman, anywhere.

In fact that’s why I am raising this issue. Like Catherine Duneuve and other prominent French feminists, I must wonder if #‘Me Too’ has morphed from a feminist movement into an attack on artistic freedom.

And until the day a significant proportion of the overall constiuency of rapists, molesters and harassers don't just happen be charismatic, googlable and tweetable stars of stage and screen, I fear for women.

Transcript of Sky Gilbert on his iPhone monologuing with a BFF re: The Shape of Water --

“No, I didn’t like The Shape of Water. I know I’m supposed to like it. Yes Guillermo del Toro is fabulous blah blah blah. Yes it was beautiful to look at. Yes the ‘creature’ was sexy and almost, kinda -- naked. Yes the acting was fabulous, and pretty well anything that Sally Hawkins does I love. She could just read a book or shine her shoes and I would watch. It’s just...okay. This is it. It took me a while to figure out that Richard Jenkins was the gay character and when I did, well I was just soooooo....disappointed! Why? Because okay...there he is, wearing his little sweater with the elbow patches, living all alone with his cats, and then when he makes that very shy approach to the young blonde man who runs the restaurant -- and then he gets so cruelly and homophobically rejected, I just -- ummm. Well, I just couldn’t. It’s just the whole image of this terribly nice man, who likes to have tea with his female mute best friend, and that’s his life. (Is this revealing something about me?) No, I’m not saying that there aren’t some terribly nice gay men who live all alone with cats in crumby apartments and have mute female friends that they adore having tea with. I’m just saying that that is the image of us that straight people are most comfortable with. I mean, it makes them feel a lot better about us than to think that we don’t live alone, or we don’t like cats, or we don’t have time for our mute female friends because we’re much too busy fucking in the back room at the Eagle. Do you get what I’m saying? And I don’t know if that’s a reason for me to reject the whole movie. And well -- I don’t reject the whole movie -- well maybe I do.  And I realize it’s probably going to get a thousand and one Oscars. But it’s just one of those movies that manages to include every minority group. I mean there’s a gay man, and a disabled woman, and a black woman and even the ‘creature’ it turns out is kind of ‘trans.’  No, he is! Remember when Sally Hawkins has that conversation with Octavia Spencer who asks if the ‘creature’ has a penis and Sally says that it’s kind of hidden away -- yes for sure, the ‘creature’ is meant to be trans. Yes, so in this way Guillermo has like covered almost every shape and size of minority group and has proved by this movie that he is on the side of all of them. And all I can say is, as a member of one of those minority groups portrayed in this movie, I feel kinda taken advantage of. And it’s not because I don’t ever like any movies ever, that’s not true. For instance I like......well my most recent fave movie was I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore starring the super-duper talented Melanie Lynsky. Yes, it’s on Netflix. And yes, I really liked that movie a lot. But I didn’t so much like The Shape of Water. Oscars or no Oscars. Sorry.”

What’s Wrong With Heterosexuality?

Quite a lot actually. And we will never challenge rape culture and/or the sexual harassment of women until we fundamentally change heterosexuality itself.

We imagine that merely by routing out the guilty male parties (who seem, rather oddly, to all be in the arts or politics -- are there no serial abusers in the corporate sphere?) we have solved the problem. No. This is not to say that men who harass and abuse women are not guilty, nor is it to say that they should not be punished. But if wish to eradicate the problem -- not just place a pretty band-aid on it -- we must look deeply and critically at heterosexuality itself.

As a gay man, I can stand outside heterosexuality. I hope I can offer a fresh perspective on a the ‘heterosexual problem.’ (Sure, some gay men are abusers/molesters/harassers -- but for very different reasons -- so we’ll save that for another day!)

So how do we start solving the problem of heterosexuality?

1. As children, we are taught that most men are sexual (The Beast), and that women are, generally -- not sexual (Beauty). We are also taught that there are some women who do happen to be sexual. They are called ‘whores.’ If a woman has sexual desires and speaks about them then she is not a ‘nice’ woman. This is the most important thing we must change: women must be empowered to speak about sex and desire -- frankly, honestly -- freely and often.

2. The best way to make a baby, for years, has been to insert a penis into a vagina, and then wiggle it around until the man has an orgasm. True. But this fact has no significance. It means nothing. (It’s even less important nowadays, because we could all use a little de-population!) The fact that this is the most pleasurable way we’ve come up with  to make babies (so far) has nothing to do with the way women and men should or can act in or out of bed. Sex involves power play; if there is no power play, then it’s simply affection. But the power games we play in bed say nothing about who we are out of bed. All that man-on-top-woman--on-the-bottom stuff -- if you like it in bed --  must stop when you get out. Period.

3. Finally. (Please take a deep breath, this is tough one.) Monogamy doesn’t work for most of us -- male, female and ‘other.’ It’s best to try and find a mutually agreed upon, palatable alternative.

Hey --  heterosexuals!  Just start working on these three very important things! I promise, you’ll be fine!

Take it from me -- I’m gay!