The #MeToo movement brings out yet another sexual-exploitation-by-powerful-pale-male story while toppling him from his high position... this time former CBS chief exec Les Moonves. Per the New York Times, citing a 59-page report from independent lawyers hired by CBS to investigate Moonves’s, em, activities:
“Moonves received oral sex from at least 4 CBS employees under circumstances that sound transactional and improper to the extent that there was no hint of any relationship, romance, or reciprocity.”
In fact at least one employee was on call for oral sex, according to multiple employees including Moonves himself.
Moonves’s lawyer shot back:
“Mr. Moonves vehemently denies having any non-consensual sexual relations,” Andrew J. Levander, Mr. Moonves’s lawyer, said on Tuesday. “He never put or kept someone on the payroll for the purpose of sex.”
I 100% believe the first part of that last sentence. I’m sure it wasn’t in the job description. But apparently neither Moonves or Levander understands that sex with a subordinate can never really be consensual. Viz:
“A number of employees were aware of this and believed that the woman was protected from discipline or termination as a result of it.”
Yep, that’s very consensual. “Transactional” is a good word for it. What a great deal, eh? “Blow me whenever I want and I won’t fire or discipline you.” BTW this was on top of all Moonves’s other so-called consensual relationships and affairs. His downfall was due to 12 women disclosing to the New Yorker. He resigned shortly afterward in September.
The report also states that CBS has every right to deny Moonves his $120 million severance payment because he destroyed evidence and lied to investigators, and that the culture of complicity in his crimes in the top echelons of CBS will have repercussions for decades at the company.
Fine, but I’m concerned more with the wider repercussions for society. Will the #MeToo movement root out every single powerful sexual predator on the planet? Probably not, but it might terrify some into ceasing and desisting, and in the meantime, we (as I count myself a part of it) have made great strides in banishing these behaviours from the repertoire of “acceptable” or “normal” human interactions, and welcoming reporting such behaviours into that same repertoire. Kudos to the brave women who have risked all to speak truth.
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