BRM 2017 Nov 2017 | Page 18

Casting the couch aside, until the next closet opens.

For almost anyone, the term “casting couch” is a known pseudonym for the path to a better job, grade, place in life. Predominantly men owning the couch for their female prey to be taken advantage of on, the term transcends gender and sexual preference as well. As a child growing up, the term was so infused in the culture of Hollywood, it didn’t seem as dirty and sorted as many less common traits we ran away from.

In my earlier work years, as I moved up in position, there was an undercurrent of that casting couch environment even there, though never discussed in that term. The mostly male manager meetings were many times side-tracked by conversations and comparisons of the female minions looking to get ahead. Topics of which one was better at getting on her knees, how they would assess the women by having them stand against the wall to insure their breasts touched it before their noses did. If the latter, they could never hope to be promoted. In my awkward naivety, I didn’t understand how this happened, but my brain remembered the “casting couch” term, and on it went.

One particular position at a company, women that I found later to have been dragged to the couch, would often confide in me with very fuzzy overtones in these regards. I recall one that was a college graduate in business, had been promoted within the company a few times, and was attempting to land a salaried manager’s job. She was overlooked a few times, hence why we were talking. The woman was extremely smart, efficient, and aware of the roadblocks in front of her. She talked of her disappointment in being overlooked, and was trying to help me with projects, knowing I was following behind her.

Fast forward about 2 years, her fiancé who also worked with the company, she had met there, was awarded that salary position before her. She still worked her training knowledge growth, but was never placed in the position she deserved. Her fiancé left for a new position, and she followed him out the door a short while later.

I was placed in that salaried position, but the culture was already changing with newer managers in place. The “couch” conversations all but went away, and in my assumption, the females including the one that I write here about, paved the way in their quiet “not anymore” responses to the promotion of some very talented female managers in the years that came after.

And now, with every news source blowing up the Harvey Weinstein accusations seemingly coming out of every closet across the land, the question of “why now?” is tossed into the train of thoughts. Another “why now”? sidetrack running on a parallel rail, is for example, Kevin Spacey, who decided to out his own actions before anyone else did from decades ago. It seems someone called the septic service company and unearthed a rather incredibly large pool of cess. Perhaps in a later format we can alter the title of the well-known LA. Show adjusting it to Ack-Cess HollyWould, subtitled “and she likely did”…….. reeling this back in, why now? The actions of producers, actors, actresses, hotel managers, sport’s figures, hell even President’s has gone on for more years than I have lived. It certainly seemed pretty much accepted as behavior of the elite. Why now? How many accusers actually get satisfaction of a favorable court decision. Then, almost never even got to court, now the term acquittal resounds as often as there is a case.

The rumblings of change have been setting up for many years, the stronger female victims getting to be ostracized by public opinion. But they began the process. The current cleansing will not make the couch go away, but it will be more difficult to set one in place. In relative terms, much of the current noise seemed coincidently related to a certain ginger-haired bully that lives in a big white house. The tactic of berating the female gender has added to the tenacity to find ways of standing above it. Goodness knows to accuse the white house occupant can get you arrested for treason, but manifesting strength in accessible points such as the Weinstein’s’ and Cosby’s and others over the last few years, seems monstrously accessible.

Hillary is likely not our best choice in a female candidate, however her ascension to being that close to the chair of our country, having been there with Bill, gives more credence to why now. There is an equalizing power trending that makes it right to empty the closet now.

One thing we can be sure of, this exposure of the exposers won’t cure the ills entrenched into our culture. That will take time. We only need to observe the topic of race equality to see that big problems take a large amount of time to solve, and eliminating the couch and its concepts won’t be any different. Time, undaunted efforts, and a growing population of people willing to listen and act more sensibly.