Yes, it is relevant and you don't have to agree, but it's bull **** to claim my point has anything to do with slut shaming.
I never said it did.
Two things, if your whole adult life has included men objectifying you, it's possible you interpret men's actions through that bias about men.
Wut? This is just airy speculation. Unsurprisingly, Al Franken did not use this rationalization in his apology.
And two, listening to this woman's obsession over the last 10 years (her statement is that this has been burning her up for 10 years) with this one USO tour and this one man, one has to ask why is that? Was Franken really that offensive or does Tweeden's hate for him color her perception?
Seriously, is this a joke? If what she says is true about Al Franken tongue-kissing her backstage under the ruse of rehearsing is true, then it would explain her hatred of him, wouldn't it? She claims not to have spoken to him since the incident, and she claims that she didn't speak out about it because she feared for her career. Isn't this the pattern of behaviour that is familiar from women who have been sexually assaulted?
The complaint is that the skit he wrote was offensive. That makes him a jerk for not asking if she was OK with the skit or noticing she wasn't.
No, this is not the complaint. Really, you should at least
read what she says if you are front-loading this as her major complaint. She says that while that part was unexpected, she was prepared to do that:
As a TV host and sports broadcaster, as well as a model familiar to the audience from the covers of FHM, Maxim and Playboy, I was only expecting to emcee and introduce the acts, but Franken said he had written a part for me that he thought would be funny, and I agreed to play along.
When I saw the script, Franken had written a moment when his character comes at me for a ‘kiss’. I suspected what he was after, but I figured I could turn my head at the last minute, or put my hand over his mouth, to get more laughs from the crowd.
So, she was a good sport about that bit. However...
And we have her claim he used his tongue (it's my understanding actors don't use their tongues in kissing scenes). If Franken used skits to get tongue kisses I expect we should see other victims coming forward. We still haven't.
This is
the complaint, and you are just handwaving it away by saying she can't be the only one. If she is the only one who claims it then what? She is lying? Maybe she is, but then Al Franken doesn't really have that to apologize if that's the case. But instead he "doesn't remember"? That's a bit odd, don't you think? If you are correct that actors do not use tongues in their kissing scenes then why would Franken not remember the rehearsal the same way? The fact he remembers they had one in some way corroborates her story. She obviously did not make the whole thing up.
As for the grope joke, I'm sorry but a grope is not the same as a pretend one.
Again, let's get the claim right, rather than dismiss it as "the grope joke". She says:
I couldn’t believe it. He groped me, without my consent, while I was asleep.
I felt violated all over again. Embarrassed. Belittled. Humiliated.
How dare anyone grab my breasts like this and think it’s funny?
She claims he grabbed her breasts. It doesn't mean he pretended to. So what does Franken say?
For instance, that picture. I don't know what was in my head when I took that picture, and it doesn't matter. There's no excuse. I look at it now and I feel disgusted with myself. It isn't funny. It's completely inappropriate. It's obvious how Leeann would feel violated by that picture. And, what's more, I can see how millions of other women would feel violated by it—women who have had similar experiences in their own lives, women who fear having those experiences, women who look up to me, women who have counted on me.
He says there is no excuse. Not even the ones you are proffering. And noticeably he doesn't deny grabbing her breasts even though a number of people have been squinting at it sideways and opining that he probably isn't touching them. Why is that? Is it because he did touch them, for a laugh. How is that different from a guy who pinches a waitresses bum to roars of laughter from his pals?
You don't have to agree but like I said, it's bull **** to claim this has jack to do with slut shaming. At least get the argument right.
I am not misrepresenting you. You might be misrepresenting me, though. I never said it had anything to do with slut shaming.
But also, get the story right and stop rationalizing like crazy.
