Light shines on male artists’ work, not their mistreatment of women
Why is it so difficult to place the safety and dignity of women and girls above the accomplishments of men who have been accused of bad acts?
Why is a movie, a book, a man’s career, so exalted that the lives and well-being of women are easily downgraded as a matter of priority?
We’ve had Michael Mailer debating on these pages in February 2022 whether Random House was “canceling” his father, after it declined a proposed book to mark the author’s centenary, presumably in light of his “checkered past.” Norman Mailer’s son argued basically that his father is a cultural legacy, his work so exceptional that even the 1960 stabbing of his wife with a penknife is not a reason to reconsider his status at the expense of domestic abuse victims.
And now we have Alex Beam, all in on Woody Allen (“Woody Allen, the headache no one wants,” Opinion, April 26), who essentially says: Think what you will about Allen, accused of monstrous acts, but his new movie is so great it can’t be missed.
Again, the distinctive quality of men’s work supersedes the need for accountability.
Perhaps the light of the past has cast a harsh glow on a pack of writers and actors, and their bad acts, but the least prominent consideration in these calculations is the impact of harassment and assault on women.
Cindy Layton
Sharon
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