Oh Barbara. You are perpetuating every single myth about sexual abuse there is.
"I've seen him with his children. He's a loving father. So he can't possibly be a child molester."
"He can't be a child molester because he *married* Soon-Yi after he slept with her. Who cares if she was his 17 yo step-daughter? And it's all a-ok because it was consensual."
And also, who cares anyway, because the statue of limitations has expired. So whatevs. *gives the raspberry*
She is so wrong on every point. Having nothing to do with whether he did it or not (this time, because he did it before with his underage step-daughter). She is wrong to perpetuate these myths about child sexual abuse.
She accuses Dylan Farrow of writing this article because Woody Allen is up for an award. Bullshit. She accused him years ago, and as recently as 4 months ago - back when award season was a twinkle in our eye.
No. A man who thinks that it is ok to sleep with his underage stepdaughter does not deserve my unquestioning support.
A man who thinks it is ok to sleep with his underage step-daughter is a pedophile. A child molester.
And research shows that if an offender acts he is likely to do it again.
In her statements, Barbara Walters is perpetuating rape culture. It must be the girl - she's lying. And Walters has a lot of celebrity support. In a tweet (now deleted), Stephen King called Dylan Farrow's article "palpable bitchery". The Daily Beast, instead of saying "no charges have been filed" or something similarly factual, stated that "he has the presumption of innocence." Meaning Dylan Farrow is presumed lying.
When it comes to sexual abuse, there is no middle ground. No misinterpretation. No "maybe I saw it, but I'm not sure." He either touched her and molested her or he didn't. And by giving him the presumption of innocence, you accuse Farrow of lying.
Before you start in on me, yes. Our constitution guarantees us the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. That is in the judicial system. We all know that Woody Allen has never been charged with a sexual crime. Therefore, there is no judicial system at work here. You either believe him, or you believe Dylan Farrow. The journal, Violence Against Women, published a study in 2010 that placed the incidence of false allegations of rape at between 2 and 10%.
That means at a minimum of 90% and potentially as high as 98% of the time, allegations of sexual abuse are true.
And yet, we presume that he is innocent. Which, by default, presumes the victim is lying.
And Allen's attorney places the blame on Mia Farrow, a "vengeful lover". First off, I think Mia Farrow is happy that she isn't with him. I'm pretty sure she doesn't want him back. Also, this statement once again minimizes Dylan Farrow. The woman is 28 years old. She doesn't need her mommy to tell her what to do.
Like I said, I have no idea if he did it or not. I'm inclined to believe that he did. But, to perpetuate a culture that claims a girl or a woman must be lying about abuse, because "he's such a nice man" is pure and unadulterated bullshit.
And that's why Barbara Walters has it all wrong.
