J.K. Curry explains in his article, "David Mamet's Oleanna as Commentary on Sexual Harassment in the Academy", that he believes the "problem" with Oleanna was not about sexual harassment,"but rather about false allegations...about exaggerated or distorted claims of harassment". I completely agree with what he is saying. Everything that Carol accuses John of is not false, but taken completely out of context, which make it sound a hundred times worse than it actually was. Carol made it seem to the tenure commity as if John was trying to seduce her or attempting to ask her for something inappropriate in exchange for her grade to be changed.
Her initial reason for going in to see him , without an appointment may I add, was to talk to him about her grade. When she got there, she just sat down because he was on the phone, but as soon as he got off the phone, the first question she asks him is "what is a term of art" that has nothing to do with her grade. If she went in to talk about her grade, and her grade was actually her only reason for stepping into his office, why was she using up her time and his, to talk about something that was in the end of no importance to her.
Curry states that "...suggesting that sexual harassment is really a ploy of militant feminists to disempower and destroy white, middle-class, male academics." I agree with what Curry is saying here. Sexual harassment and rape arevery serious offenses, and from what I know about sexual harassment and rape as a whole and about the victims of these crimes, it is very traumatic and horrendous experience. Carol accuses John of sexual harassment and then of attempted rape, both extremely horrible things. If someone actually went through these crimes the odds are that they would be traumatized. Even looking at the person who harassed and/or raped them would be an extremely difficult and terrifying experience. So if John really sexually harassed Carol and attempted to rape her, why would she go back to meet him alone, in his office? An actual victim of either one of these crimes would never do this.
Victims of these crimes, can be scarred and traumatized for a very long time, possibly the rest of their lives. Something like this does not just go away. A victim of an offense of these magnitudes, does not easily "forgive and forget". Carol , the alleged victim of BOTH sexual harassment and rape, seems to be perfectly fine the next time she meets with John. She even offers him a deal to make her accusations go away. She tells him that her and her "group" would like certain books to be taken off the school list. John's book being one of the books on said list.
I agree completely with Curry. What Carol and her "group" are doing, was not about sexual harassment and getting justice for her agony, it was about taking someone down who held more power than themselves/. No real victim of these crimes, would offer something in exchange for them to recant their accusations. The only justice that some victims of those crimes get, is for the assailants to be put behind bars and locked away so that they are no longer able to hurt them or anyone else. Carol and her "group's" only objective, since the first time Carol set foot into John's office, was to take him down one way or another for their own satisfaction.
No comments:
Post a Comment