HALIFAX (NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA)
The Herald
December 30, 2017
By Gail Lethbridge
The biggest surprise of 2017 was that anyone was surprised.
Never, it seems, have there been more pearls clutched, more sharp breath intakes, more heads shaken in disgust, as one Hollywood mogul after another went down in the wake of sexual assault allegations.
I’m not questioning the rightness of this. Of course it’s right that people are being held accountable for their actions.
But what perplexes me is that anyone should be surprised by the fact that powerful men in show business (or any other business, for that matter) would use their positions to get their way with less powerful people.
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Anyone who thinks it’s weird that a woman didn’t report an incident of sexual abuse need only look at the Catholic Church and connect the dots. Like the altar boys, that woman knew she wouldn’t be believed — or worse, punished if she spoke out.
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