I spent a good minute stewing over the title of this post, and I'm still not satisfied. I'm well into my thirties,; I don't have heroes anymore. I also spent an inordinate amount of time stewing over the "shit list " I linked to the other day, and it's pretty staggering the number of famous men who've been accused of domestic abuse or rape, and have managed to keep their celebrity in tact.
Commenter E asked the question; "What do you do with this information? Where do you, fellow Feministeing feminists, draw the line when it comes to bad people making art that you like? Is it a matter of “That art is just so good,” or “That asshole is dead,” or “I will enjoy this art without giving that asshole money,” or “I will be aware of this artist’s woman-hating douchebaggery and thoughtfully enjoy his art anyway,” or the “fuck it I like it” rule, or something else?"
What do we do with it? Is it enough to acknowledge that someone's behavior is problematic without taking any further action? Is it different from when the artist's behavior, rather than the art itself, is problematic? There's been a lot written about liking and consuming problematic work, but it's always focused on the work, not the person making it.
I'll be the first to admit I haven't always removed someone's songs off my iPod or stopped watching their movies because of something they've done. Some of the men who've made the shit list, I didn't even know about their past abuse. (Glen Campbell for one, and I grew up with country music and usually consider myself pretty aware of its failures.) Viewed with enough historical distance, things are easy to ignore. That doesn't make it right, it just gives you a handy excuse.
The truth is I don't know what the answer is either. I think if the entertainment industry started to denounce these incidents rather than sweep them under the rug, it would, at least, send a message that it's unacceptable.
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