On Tuesday, critic Nell Minow revealed a little-known story about former
Friends star David Schwimmer — a story that shows how classy Schwimmer is, and
how hypocritical the Leftists in the media are. Her story goes something like
this: Schwimmer was doing a press junket for his film Poynter. She was
supposed to interview Schwimmer in the bar of the hotel, but it was too loud,
so Schwimmer offered to do the interview in his room. According to Indy 100:
Perhaps realising that this might be an uncomfortable and
potentially dangerous situation for a woman, Schwimmer added
that he could guarantee that a third person would be present
in the room … Nell didn't feel threatened and declined Schwimmer's
offer but appreciated the star's sensitivity and consideration.
Yes, Schwimmer did the right thing. It was both smart and decent for him to
offer to have a third person present in order to minimize both the risk of
sexual harassment or suspicion of sexual harassment. And the press are
praising him for this perspicacity now that Harvey Weinstein’s predilections
have been made public.
Flash back to April.
Vice President Mike Pence found himself raked over the coals for the sin of
stating that he would not dine alone with a woman not his wife, or attend
functions at which drinking took place without his wife present. And so Robin
Abcarian of The Los Angeles Times wrote this:
If professional women and men cannot be alone together, women are
the ones who will pay a price. They will not have the kind of
mentoring that promotes workplace advancement. They will not develop
the same kinds of relationships with bosses that their male
colleagues do. They will lose out. “I believe this is gender
discrimination,” said Kim Elsesser, 52, a UCLA lecturer on gender
and psychology who founded a proprietary quantitative hedge fund at
Morgan Stanley after graduating from Vassar and MIT.
Here’s Olga Khazan at The Atlantic:
[W]hen men avoid professional relationships with women, even if
for noble reasons, it actually hurts women in the end.
Khazan quoted Elsesser, too, who pointed out that 75% of men in her study
worried about allegations of sexual harassment and “30% of participants had
co-workers question them about the true motives behind a cross-gender
friendship.” But Elsesser blithely stated, “the way to overcome that problem,
Elsesser said, is not to monastically order room service every night of your
business trip. Instead, it’s to normalize men and women interacting
professionally, in a non-sexual way.”
So, will we see the press turn on Schwimmer? After all, he would have invited
a man up to his room without a third party present. Why did he single out
Minow? Was he a Mike Pence-type sexist?
Or is it possible that men _ought_ to be more careful around and protective of
women? Is it possible that being a gentlemen means going out of your way to
ensure that women don’t feel threatened or cajoled? Is it possible that
Pence’s rule wasn’t just for his own protection, but for the comfort of female
employees generally?
The difference between the media’s treatment of Schwimmer and Pence tells you
everything you need to know about the double standard applied to religious
conservatives and secular Leftists. If they participate in _precisely the same
behavior_, religious conservatives do it because they’re supposedly sexist,
and secular Leftists do it because they’re supposedly glorious and caring.