I Don’t Give Shit If Meryl *Knew*

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So, yeah. Why are we all up Meryl Streep’s ass for her claiming she didn’t know that Harvey Weinstein was an abusive piece of shit who bullied women into sexual activity with the threat of demolishing their career hanging over their heads?
I mean, yes. He’s a dick, but is that Meryl Streep’s fault? Last time I checked, HW was a super rich movie producer and distributor that must have worked with someone other than Meryl.
But now everyone is pissed of at Meryl because they think she knew about what was going on in Hollywood and didn’t swoop in and say something cleverly Meryl and fix it?
Give.Me.A.Break.
Word on the street is that everyone knew. Word on the street is that a shit ton of women have been assaulted by HW and only came forward now. Word is that people kept quiet out of fear and intimidation and a strange culture of accepting things for what they were instead of fighting for what should be. Word is that is was acceptable for a woman to subject herself to terrible things because it was *necessary* to get anywhere in the misogyny that is Hollywood.
So there are two scenarios, in my mind. One is that, of course Meryl actually didn’t know what was going on.
Now before you all start screaming *LIES*, think about it for a second. Meryl Streep is literally Hollywood royalty. She is probably the most talented actress of a generation, hugely respected, well spoken, out spoken and not in the habit of needing a boost from anyone. Meryl Streep sells movies. HW did not sexually assault her, because he didn’t dare. He needed her on his side, because she somehow had become powerful in a sea of dickhead white men ruling the roost with sexist rules and abusive priorities. She did not experience what any of the women assaulted by him experienced, and it may have given her the privilege of being blind to what was going on.
The other possibilty, is that she DID know, but like everyone else has kept her mouth shut. In this case, why is it Meryl Streep’s job to jump in and save the world? Why are we putting this on her shoulders? Scapegoat much?
And if she DID know, and is lying about it now I’m not sure I blame her. Regardless of who she appears to be, she is still human, driven by human fears and desires.
Expose it all at what cost? At the cost of losing everything she has earned in her career? At the cost of being sued or thrown out of the very industry she has literally ruled for the past 30 years? At the cost of having one less strong woman in a place where women of influence are lacking? At the cost of much personal attack and detriment?
Would you have jumped in and started to yell “HW tries trades blow jobs for movie roles!” if you were in her shoes?
We are putting one hell of a responsibility on her.
So yeah. I don’t actually give a shit whether or not Meryl Streep knew about what was going on ( likely) or didn’t know, or thought something was maybe going on, or is lying about knowing or WHATEVER. We are not supposed to be in the habit of shifting the heat from the people who should be feeling hot as fucking hell right now. Why are we focusing on Meryl when we should be focusing our energy on changing a culture where men feel like it is appropriate to sexually intimidate women and women feel like they have to tolerate it?
WE ARE WASTING OUR TIME ON THIS BULLSHIT. We are wasting our resources turning Meryl into a villain when we already know who the bad guys are.
And by the way, Meryl is not the first actor to claim they didn’t know and express how sorry they were. A whole bunch of men did that too….
Maybe we just expected better from her. But holy shit you guys. Let’s get the bad guys instead inventing new ones.