You need to read this amazing piece by Salma Hayek. She documents her time being tormented by Harvey Weinstein. But I don't want to talk about Harvey Weinstein. I want to talk about something no one really will talk about. And there are reasons no one wants to talk about it. They don't want to overshadow the stories of actresses like Ms. Hayek who have more commonly dealt with terrible men. They don't want to talk about it because of a lot of shame. They don't want to talk about it because of stigma. And it is just as bad as what these actresses have gone through, though not as common. But not as common does not mean it does not happen often. Because it still happens more frequently than it should.
I'm talking about the actors in Hollywood who are sexually assaulted. We are learning more and more about Bryan Singer and what he did. But Singer seems to have focused mostly on those who were gay. There is a sick underbelly in Hollywood of heterosexual male actors who are preyed upon. Often young, single, and desperate for work, they too are made to do awful things.
I bring this up because I was discussing the Salma Hayek piece with an actor friend of mine. He started talking about his experiences starting out in Hollywood. He experienced the casting couch as well, but thankfully was able to avoid being assaulted. He lost out on roles because he would not perform. But he tells me there are others who were not as fortunate and who had no choice. He told me of one producer whose name he would not mention who is known to like the challenge of trying to get that in there when in there was unwilling and uncooperative.
He also referred me to that gossip site that has been making the rounds lately, Crazy Days and Nights , which is chronicling the pedophilia ring and heroin use in Hollywood. Yesterday, the site had an item about a current soap opera on television with a rabid fan base that its producers trust to shout down anyone who might speak out against the show. The show is notorious as a meat market where the male and female actors both are expected to have sex with those who run the show.
The women in Hollywood and elsewhere have dealt with a lot of monsters and no one wants to diminish the coverage of them. But there are other monsters too and no one is talking about them. We think of rape as something that only happens to women. Some crudely make prison jokes when it comes to men being raped. But the phenomenon is real and Hollywood is a hotbed for that as well. We should not ignore it.
