That’s a much more polite headline than the original one, believe you me. For those of you who haven’t heard, Roman Polanksi was arrested in Zurich over the weekend on 30 year old charges of drugging and raping a thirteen year old while in California. He pled guilty to statutory rape, but fled the country before sentencing could take place.
For some reason, he’s got all kinds of people in and out of the film industry rallying to his support. Because he’s 76 years old. Because he’s a Great Director. Because he Has A Family.
Why am I writing about this on a disability blog? For a couple of reasons. The first is that people with disabilities are often vulnerable to sexual assault. The second is that people with disabilities can be at an institutional disadvantage when demanding accountability of those who have harmed us. The third is that, as someone who was ridiculed and punished for my disabilities (which were not my fault!), the ridicule and punishment faced by rape survivors (rape is not their fault!) hits pretty close to home.
The feminist blogosphere is involved in a passionate discussion right now about whether it’s appropriate to prosecute Polanski against his victim’s wishes — she’s forgiven him, she says, and wants to get on with her life. A media circus would certainly interfere with that. Legally, of course, what the victim wants is irrelevant (that’s food for a whole other discussion right there), and in this case, it’s particularly irrelevant, because charges have already been brought, and Polanski has pled guilty. The issues are that he fled the country, thus avoiding the sentencing hearing and breaking a few more laws in the process.
As for Polanski’s defenders, they are forgetting, or refusing to admit to themselves, the single most important fact in this case: Roman Polanski raped a child. Kate Harding at Broadsheet says it better than I ever could.
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