Can We Stop For A Moment And Remember That Roman Polanski Raped A Child?
That’s what Kate Harding, writing at Salon, would like us to do. And as the fight over Polanski’s arrest seems to be turning political (which I don’t understand because to me it’s not really a political issue) the points she makes are worth shining a light on.
She gets a little graphic, but maybe this is what the people rushing to Polanski’s side in this need to read.
Roman Polanski raped a child. Let’s just start right there, because that’s the detail that tends to get neglected when we start discussing whether it was fair for the bail-jumping director to be arrested at age 76, after 32 years in “exile” (which in this case means owning multiple homes in Europe, continuing to work as a director, marrying and fathering two children, even winning an Oscar, but never — poor baby — being able to return to the U.S.). Let’s keep in mind that Roman Polanski gave a 13-year-old girl a Quaalude and champagne, then raped her, before we start discussing whether the victim looked older than her 13 years, or that she now says she’d rather not see him prosecuted because she can’t stand the media attention. Before we discuss how awesome his movies are or what the now-deceased judge did wrong at his trial, let’s take a moment to recall that according to the victim’s grand jury testimony, Roman Polanski instructed her to get into a jacuzzi naked, refused to take her home when she begged to go, began kissing her even though she said no and asked him to stop; performed cunnilingus on her as she said no and asked him to stop; put his penis in her vagina as she said no and asked him to stop; asked if he could penetrate her anally, to which she replied, “No,” then went ahead and did it anyway, until he had an orgasm.
Can we do that? Can we take a moment to think about all that, and about the fact that Polanski pled guilty to unlawful sex with a minor, before we start talking about what a victim he is? Because that would be great, and not nearly enough people seem to be doing it.
Again, there seems to be a left vs. right battle emerging over Polanski’s arrest and I really don’t understand it. This isn’t about anyone’s politics. This isn’t limited government vs. big government. This is about a man who had non-consensual sex with a minor he drugged and fed booze to and who subsequent fled authorities when charged with the crime and whether or not that man should finally be brought to justice.
This is about the rule of law. It is against the law to have sex with minors. It is against the law to rape people. It is against the law to flee your indictment to another country. Roman Polanski is no victim, and he is not above the law.
