You can be a creepy sex-fiend and also be a victim of patriarchy. It can be two things, Inforashock.

So you hear “time for women to take a turn at the wheel” as someone saying Lasseter is mediocre and/or all men are sex predators? How do you justify that? His talent doesn’t justify his behavior, and given that this climate has driven a lot of talented women out of the industry, and suppressed the careers of others.

Where did I give him a pass for anything? Please give me a quote.

I don’t care if he cured the common cold - serial sexual harrassment shouldn’t be tolerated. I’m certainly not giving him a pass for directing the first Toy Story.

If Neil DeGrasse Tyson is guilty of sexual harassment, then I’ll support this notion.

“Unwanted hugs” is a great distilled example of the shitty accountability-allergic non-apologies doled out left and right by these small, prideful, grabby men. Let them burn. Time for women to get a turn at the wheel — if they choose not to break it.

The dude’s a divorcee and he NEVER talks about his first marriage. Now granted it’s very likely the boring ol’ “married too young, made a mistake” type deal but I’ve always braced myself for the other shoe to drop when it comes to Hanks.

Unless hard facts to the contrary come out, I’m in the victim-believing business.

Agree with all of this.

Read accounts from whom? The woman who came forward made it clear that the photo was not staged. Why exactly are you hesitant to take her word on that? Snopes has also debunked the rumor that the cameraman said the photo he (or she) took was staged: https://www.snopes.com/photographer-said-franken-image-was-staged/

If it’s a political ploy, then that will come out in the inquiry. It isn’t proven just because you really, really want to believe it is.

Grabbing a woman’s ass is not a joke. Groping a person while their partner is watching and taking a photo is not a gag. I agree that Franken seems to be least bad in a sea of awful, but that doesn’t mean we can trivialize it.

What you said in your first comment is that people are treating this the same as Weinstein and others. They aren’t. People recognize the difference between Franken and Weinstein’s actions. If what you really want to have is a discussion about what is appropriate in Franken’s case, fine. But you have to put aside the…

1) It wouldn’t cast doubt on the victim’s version of events (“I don’t remember the events that way”). That’s called a “denial,” not an apology.

I mean, in damn near everything else we recognize that there are degrees of awfulness. It’s not “justifying” manslaughter to recognize that it’s not the same as murder. It’s not “justifying” sexual harassment to recognize that it’s not the same as rape, or even sexual assault.

Oh, hey, here you are again. Same tired apologist argument, too.

I think that explains his behavior, but it certainly does not justify it. His behavior was horrible, no question.

Plenty of people get fired from their jobs for inappropriate behavior without being convicted of any crimes.

If we keep thinking this is about sides and the real issue will never get better. Personally, people running with the “he apologized” and “he seems genuinely contrite” bother me. Everyone is sorry and contrite when they are caught.

If a man wants to know whether a woman is interested, start by politely asking if she wants to go on a date with you, don’t start off by feeling her up.