Sexual predators who use their positions of power to coerce women to have sex with them are being unmasked as women find their voices. In many cases it is the captains of industry and people high in the media spotlight who are being named and shamed - and in most cases their employers drop them like a hot potato !
This is the unspoken hazard women have faced for generations and it manifests itself in all lifestyles. There have been whispers that those attending the police academy are under pressure for sex in exchange for better grades from their instructors and similar incentives are rife in our universities. Wherever a man is in a position to award a reward he has the opportunity of exchanging that benefit for a sexual favour.
That has simply been a fact of life since the early days of the industrial revolution. A woman who spoke out and complained was ostracised and disbelieved. Now the feminist movement is removing those shackles and many famous sexual predators are facing justice. All it now takes is for a woman to come forward and make a claim and this is immediately taken up by an enthusiastic media. If the person named is a serial transgressor, other women join the fray, eager to see justice served.
Unfortunately, it is also a medium for settling scores. It is indeed a powerful weapon in the hands of a woman who has other reasons for disliking a work colleague. Such a claim can end careers. The person accused may deny this claim and no proof may be forthcoming, but the damage is done and in the present mood the media will run with the story.
Just such a situation appears to have ensnared Geoffrey Rush. Rush is a serious actor who has won Academy Awards and regularly appears in productions by the prestigious Sydney Theatre Company.
Surprisingly, it is the Sydney Theatre Company which has chosen to release a statement implicating Rush in a claim lodged by a woman that he is a sexual transgressor.
Through his lawyers, Rush comments " It is a disappointment the STC has chosen to smear his name and unjustifiably damage his reputation in this way ". He has not been afforded the right to know what has been alleged. The release of that information to the public is both a denial of public justice and is not how our society operates.
The STC has made it plain that this was an allegation made to the STC and is not a conclusion of impropriety. It appears that the STC was approached by a journalist earlier this month and asked if it had received a complaint alleging inappropriate behaviour. The STC responded truthfully and the complainant had requested that the matter be dealt with confidentially and did not want Mr Rush notified or involved. The STC complied, acting in the interests of the complainant's health and welfare. The identity of the complainant has been withheld at the request of the individual.
This seems to be an intolerable situation where Geoffrey Rush has received maximum media attention and been branded as a sexual predator. It appears that he will not be told of the nature of his claimed assault nor the identity of the supposed victim. If that victim declines to press the matter further no other action will take place and the matter will rest in limbo, but Rush will suffer the implication if the public mind that he is a sexual deviant.
The feminist movement may demur, but justice demands that those making sexual complaints be publicly identified and prepared to defend their claim as it is publicly scrutinised. Otherwise, it is simply trial by innuendo which may have other sinister motives. It opens the door for character assassination without redress.
Trial by media will never achieve the tried and true dissemination of facts achieved by the presentation of evidence in a court of law. Such is the right of all accused !
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