Kenny

I think empathy is important, not least in matters such as sexual assault. Different people have different responses to what is clearly predatory behavior, and those who are traumatized — which means “disturbed” — are victims. Empathy for victims matters.

If, indeed, those events did not disturb or distress you as a kid, perhaps that helps explain your disturbed views on sexual assault now.

No. It doesn't.

I have a friend named Gay. Talese was named after his Italian grandfather, Gaetano. “Gay” was an Americanized version.

I especially liked the clause at the end of this sentence: “He went on to state publicly that he is gay, which was irrelevant to Rapp’s allegation.” So often that part is just left off, so good on the Globe for including it.

Thank you for posting this, since it generally concurs with my position: Forced sex might be a brute, acute, dare I say intimate manifestation of power over another human being... Therein lies the gratification.

I’m sorry to hear this, but I’d be more than happy to console you.

According to virtually every professional association and study in the field. You can start with the American Psychiatric Association, although your silly comment about sociologists “mind reading” suggest you are impervious to actual scholarship. Let me know when you find a study that says, “ Hey, they just wanna get their rocks off.”

Forced sex might be a brute, acute, dare I say intimate manifestation of power over another human being, but sexual gratification is most assuredly not the goal. Power is.

Mostly that’s because predation is not about having sex, but having power, control and dominance. Grabbing them by the pussy, so to speak...

If so, sorry about that. But in reference to your observation that famous actors are cheap, entitled and expect everything for free — an apparent explanation for Spacey sexually assaulting men instead of taking advantage of NYC’s wide array of male escorts — how exactly do you know that he didn’t hire?

Yup. That cycle is often the case: rinse, repeat.

A decade ago, Spacey's brother, Randall Fowler, told reporters that their father, who they called "The Creature," was an ardent neo-Nazi who beat him, Kevin and their sister, and repeatedly raped Randall.

Two thumbs up for @Whitman. Go, Walt!

Kevin Spacey was not a famous actor when the alleged assault occurred. He was 26. He was getting good reviews on Broadway, but he didn’t become a star until the mid-1990s.

Exactly wrong: Because sexual assault is not about wanting consensual sex.

Simple: Because sexual assault is not about wanting consensual sex.

Harvey Weinstein apologized the day his story broke: “I cannot be more remorseful about the people I hurt.”

Spacey is the one who ignited the gay/pedophilia tempest by his calculated decision to muddy the waters through diversion by appending a coming-out paragraph to his apology for an assault he says he doesn’t recall. In effect, he wrote, “I am a witch.”

Of course, Kelly McGillis is a lesbian, so...

There has been a standard line of thought, if that’s not too fancy a word, that the victims of sexual predators were “asking for it.” She was wearing a miniskirt and showing cleavage! He climbed into Spacey’s bed during the party! Etc. In reality, it is the sexual predator who is “asking for it.” Asking to be caught and humiliated. The depths of insecurity and self-loathing that drive a sexual predator to exert bodily power and take total control over another person are fulfilled and confirmed most profoundly by public discovery and disgust. The predator truly is who he believes he is in his deepest, darkest heart. Kevin Spacey, Harvey Weinstein, Donald Trump, Bill Cosby, Tyler Grasham...

The closet kills. The latest casualty: Kevin Spacey's reputable career.

bigjoey likes this. Of course! It's not a reply to a coherent comment, it's a string of diversions and non sequiturs with shiny gifs...

Seduction is not remotely the same thing as drunken sexual assault.

True. And the so-called “cut-off point” for prepubesence is hardly a fixed date. Pubesence usually begins around age 11 or 12 for boys, but “usually” is an important qualifying adverb. (What the law says is a different issue.)