Anthony Bourdain is shocked that women didn’t tell him they were victimized
Anthony Bourdain is currently dating Asia Argento, one of the first women to come out publicly and talk about what Harvey Weinstein did to her. Bourdain has been a vocal advocate for his girlfriend, and he’s been on Twitter, yelling at anyone and everyone who ever made excuses for Harvey Weinstein. I haven’t covered that aspect of the story that much, because A) I thought Bourdain was just trying to be a supportive boyfriend and B) I thought he was getting a little bit too “they’re the problem, don’t look at me!” about it. Especially given Bourdain’s own reputation as a gigantic a–hole. Granted, we’re not hearing stories about Bourdain sexually assaulting women. But I guarantee that there are dozens of women in Bourdain’s past who felt harassed, demeaned and belittled by Bourdain or by people around Bourdain while he stood there and did and said nothing. Bourdain even admits as much. and all of that has caused some self-examination by Bourdain. He sat down with Slate to talk about it:
Self-examination: “I mean, look, obviously I’ve been seeing up close—due to a personal relationship—the difficulty of speaking out about these things, and the kind of vilification and humiliation and risk and pain and terror that come with speaking out about this kind of thing. That certainly brought it home in a personal way that, to my discredit, it might not have before. There’s that. And I’m angry and I’ve seen it up close and I’ve been hearing firsthand from a lot of women. Also, I guess I’m looking back on my own life. I’m looking back on my own career and before, and for all these years women did not speak to me. I’ve been out of the restaurant business for 17, 18 years. I’m really not in the mix. Just the same: Other than one woman chef restauranteur friend from Canada, nobody has really been speaking to me about this until recently. I guess because of the Weinstein case I’m starting to hear personal stories from a lot of women.
What he’s hearing from women: “Just personal stories, things that they’ve heard, things that have happened to them. But I had to ask myself, particularly given some things that I’m hearing, and the people I’m hearing them about: Why was I not the sort of person, or why was I not seen as the sort of person, that these women could feel comfortable confiding in? I see this as a personal failing. I’ve been hearing a lot of really bad sh-t, frankly, and in many cases it’s like, wow, I’ve known some of these women and I’ve known women who’ve had stories like this for years and they’ve said nothing to me. What is wrong with me? What have I, how have I presented myself in such a way as to not give confidence, or why was I not the sort of person people would see as a natural ally here? So I started looking at that.
Providing cover for meatheads: “I’ve had to ask myself, and I have been for some time, “To what extent in that book [Kitchen Confidential] did I provide validation to meatheads?” If you read the book, there’s a lot of bad language. There’s a lot of sexualization of food. I don’t recall any leeringly or particularly, what’s the word, prurient interest in the book, other than the first scene as a young man watching my chef very happily [have a] consensual encounter with a client. But still, that’s bro culture, that’s meathead culture…Look, I never wanted to be part of bro culture. I was always embarrassed. If I ever found myself, and I mean going way back, with a group of guys and they started leering at women or making, “Hey, look at her. Nice rack,” I was always, I was so uncomfortable. It just felt, it wasn’t an ethical thing; it was that I felt uncomfortable and ashamed to be a man and I felt that everybody involved in this equation was demeaned by the experience. I was demeaned by standing there next to things like this. They were demeaned for behaving like this. It’s like sitting at a table with somebody who’s rude to a waiter. I don’t want to be with someone like that.
[From Slate]
He goes on for a long time about the culture in which he was raised, with sexual liberation and everyone being equal and everyone feeling free to get their freak on, and it reminds me a little bit of Harvey Weinstein’s first statement about growing up in the 1960s, with those attitudes. Bourdain is clear that his background doesn’t excuse him, and yet he’s trying to use it as a mitigating factor. It’s a reminder that men in glass houses should be very careful of where they’re throwing stones – Bourdain was so pissed off that so many people around Weinstein were culpable to varying degrees, and now he examining his own history of looking the other way or not saying anything when women were being harassed and degraded right in front of him. I guess it’s a good thing that some men are coming to Jesus on this kind of stuff, but again… it feels like such a low bar is being set for these men.
Also: so many women are now telling Bourdain their stories and all he can do is think about himself and why he has the kind of personality/background which would make women think they can’t trust him or confide him. THAT IS WHY. Because he’s making their stories about himself!
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Source: Anthony Bourdain is shocked that women didn’t tell him they were victimized
2 total views, 2 views today