Quote of the Day

[Trigger warning for sexual harassment and rape culture.]

"Most people are robust. If a man puts his hand on a woman's bottom, any woman worth her salt can deal with it. It is communication. Can't we be friendly?"—Actor Jeremy Irons.

Charming.

Note that when Irons says "deal with it," what he really means is "let a man grope her without complaint." Telling a man to get his hands off her and fuck off, forcibly removing a man's hand from her body, filing a harassment complaint...these are all ways that a woman might "deal with" a man touching her without her explicit consent.

They just don't happen to be ways of "dealing with it" that Irons, a sexual harasser, finds acceptable.

And because auditors audit in support of the rape culture, naturally he finds only a woman who reacts with quiet acquiescence to harassment is a woman "worth her salt." Sure.

I will note, with all the volcanic contempt it deserves, that women who are most inclined to react with the silent indulgence that Irons finds so laudable are women who have survived sexual violence and freeze with terror when triggered by unsolicited touching.

I shudder to consider how many nervous smiles, offered as a defense mechanism by women who calculate if I just go along with his fondling my ass, and be quiet about it, he won't escalate, have been interpreted by Jeremy Irons as a flirtation in response to his "friendly communication."