Is Harvey Weinstein a sexual predator? Is that a rhetorical question? Seriously. What amazes me, as a male and having been a manager, is that this stuff still goes on. Don’t these guys read the papers? Get a washcloth, a bar of soap and take a shower. Seriously.

But there may be a couple of factors driving this kind of behavior. One may be deeply psychological while another involves the process of becoming acculturated to entitlement.  An article appeared in Scientific American a few years ago that discussed the similarity between psycho/sociopaths, and SOME people in positions of great authority, such as Politicians, military commanders and CEOs. It was found that they all shared one trait in common: viewing other persons as objects to be used or abused to achieve their objectives. ‘Others’ were like furniture.

Perhaps more common in our experience is the sense of entitlement shared by many who have been successful. Bill Clinton, when asked why he had engaged in a relationship with Monica Lewinsky, said, quite honestly: ‘because I could..’. A great editorial in the New York Times in the ’00s spoke of such people as behaving as if ‘every light is green’, and treating general rules of behavior as ‘suggestions’.

So I think we can all agree that Harvey, for whatever reason, is a lowlife.

My Book, The Girl From Ipanema

What about my character Carmine in ‘the Girl from Ipanema‘? He is ‘girl crazy’, to put it euphemistically with an anachronism. One of Buford Stemp’s jobs is to keep him in check. Buford has mixed success. But is Carmine a younger Harvey? Well, if he’s not a predator he’s certainly ‘on the prowl’, which is what predators do. But he goes around with his objective tattooed onto his forehead and backs off when refused.

Is this reprehensible behavior? I don’t think so, but you tell me what you think. Is it inappropriate? Yup. So how do we train a Carmine?

Hopefully, you will see Carmine grow as the story unfolds. I spoke before about the question as to whether characters or plot drives a story. I believe it’s character development that will hold a reader’s interest, otherwise why not put the damned book down. More specifically though, it occurs to me, without introducing a major spoiler, that one protection against predatory sexual behavior is the ability to form a deep and meaningful relationship with another person. You’re happy and fulfilled. What more would you need?

Now, that being said, I will confess that I often have ‘impure’ thoughts. I’m a guy. I love females for everything that they are and we males are not. That includes admiring the feminine form. Sorry, true confession. Is that hardwired? Probably. But you tell me.

However, the trick is to keep your thoughts and your hands to yourselves guys. I was chastised mildly by a female friend in my blog ‘Wonder Women in Sports Broadcasting‘ for referring to Suzy Kolber’s voice as low and sexy. This was to contrast it with a complaint about Beth Mowin’s voice as ‘ like my ex nagging me’, a claim I violently dispute. But it was also an intellectually honest statement on my part.

Once again, I love women for everything that they are. But if you’ve read my blogs and my books you know this already.