Will judgement come??

Well it's been over 8 months since my last post and how I have missed it. I will be blogging about Roman Polanski and how he has currently been released from house arrest in Switzerland. Polanski has avoided extradition to the U.S. for a sexual assault charge that he was arrested for back in 1977.

Now let's get to know Mr. Polanski a little before we go any further.

Roman Polanski is best known for his work on films such as The Pianist, Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown, and Tess. Collectively all his films have earned Polanski 10 Oscars and many other awards. He has received many achievement awards and has entertained millions of people across the world with his visionary films and stories.....

Now if you were a fan of his films you would probably put Polanski on a pretty high pedestal right!? How could someone who is so successful, and respected in the film industry do anything like sexually assaulting a 13 year old girl? It couldn't happen, this girl was definitely after money or something.... right!?

Well let's look into this scenario. Samantha Geimer (who was 13 in 1977) was asked by Polanski to model for a French edition of Vogue. Her mother agreed and the photo shoot proceeded. Following the first shoot Polanski asked Geimer again to participate in a followup shoot on March 10, 1977. It was on this second visit things went array. Geimer testified that Polanski gave her champagne with Quaalude (a sedative drug) then proceeded to preform oral sex, vaginal sexual intercourse, and sodomy (a law term meaning unnatural sex which by definition contains oral or anal or non-genital to genital congress.) Throughout all of this Geimer continuously expressed her resistance and how she NEVER consented.

Polanski's response was that he never drugged her, and that she "wasn't unresponsive," and she didn't respond in a negative manner when he was "checking" to see if she was enjoying what he was doing.

Now hold on a sec, he says he was checking in to see if what he was doing was enjoyable. First of all she did not consent EVER, second she was 13 years old and according to the law she could never consent anyways. Essentially a plea bargain was met and Polanski had 5 0f 6 charges dropped, and he pleaded guilty to one charge which today would be considered statutory rape (or child sexual abuse in Canada.) After a period of time in the Chino state prison for a psychiatric evaluation, a sentencing was to be determined but Polanski fled the U.S. to Europe in fear of going to prison.

Now those who defend Polanski would make an argument such as, "It happened such a long time ago and he has learnt his lesson." or "He has already paid for his crimes, he's been forced out of the U.S. for the past 3 decades and has been denied his desire to make films." Hello reality check, HE RAN AWAY! He's been hiding out in Europe for the past 30 years to avoid going to jail. To have so many people believe that he was pardoned or should be for his crimes is ridiculous. If it were any other crime such as murder, fraud, or drug charges they would be upheld no matter how much time has passed.

In my eyes this sorry excuse of a man ran away from his actions; too afraid to face the consequences of what he had done to this young girl. It is also amazing to hear what people have said to rationalize what he did;

- He's an award winning director
- His wife was murdered
-He didn't beat her so it's not that bad
-She should have known better
-She was trying to get his money
-She didn't fight back

Society has developed quite a loud way of defending the actions of those who we see as role models or those with skills and talents we see as powerful.

It's frustrating to hear that people have tried and are still petitioning Polanski's release and pardon. What I am trying to reinforce is that no matter how long ago an assault happened it is still sexual assault. It is important to understand that with power comes entitlement, and Polanski felt owed, or deserving of whatever he wanted. This justification of his actions made it "OK" (in his mind) to do what he wanted and no one could say otherwise. Being a director in Hollywood gave Polanski a magnitude of power, and he saw that this power could be channeled to all aspects of his life so that his desires can be met no matter what.


This is where society has a flawed design around sexual assaults. There are so many stigmas and myths that are relentlessly thrown at us in general and we forget who is to blame. As a community we must stand together and support survivors while shaming offenders. No matter who they are. Just because Polanski makes award winning films and earns millions of dollars doesn't excuse him from what he did. The Superior Court Judge - Peter Espinoza- has ruled that Polanski must return to the U.S. for sentencing, although it was recently announced that Polanski has been released from house arrest on July 12, 2010, meaning he's a free man once again.

What can be taken away from this man's crime is that there can be more young girls, boys, women or men who suffered through the same events but were silenced by Polanski and the world. Evidence of this was discovered on May 14, 2010 when a London actress Charlotte Lewis told the world that Polanski sexually abused her in 1982 when she was 16 years old. Polanski could have been in jail for the majority of the past 3 decades but instead he has avoided his sentencing and has been able to stay out of American jurisdictions, and has been able to live his life as be pleases. How is this just? Does he acknowledge or even feel remorse for all the pain, suffering, guilt and embarrassment he instilled in his victim? More likely victims?

I leave you with a quote from Lewis's attorney...

"I think what is important is she came forward now," Allred said, "Not only is it not too late, there's still time if the other victims want to come forward."

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/More+allegations+Roman+Polanski/3029757/story.html

We will have to wait and see if Polanski ends up facing the judge. Time will tell.

-KB Continue reading

The New Guy.

Hey Kids;

I'm J Camp, and I’m the newest member of the Youth 4 Change team. I have been working at CCASA or Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse for a little over a month now and have really enjoyed the work the team has been doing. I'm very much looking forward to what the rest of the summer has in store for me and the rest of my team.

I feel the Youth 4 Change team is very unique in that we have a wide variety of different back grounds none of which is related to social work, as almost all the rest of our colleagues here at CCASA have. On our team we have Alex; she’s going to school to become a doctor. Also there's Kara, or KB, who recently graduated from the film and video production program at SAIT. Then there is Joe who graduated from the same film and video production program and has a philosophy degree from the U of L. Then there is me, I am currently in my 2nd year of my Business and Sports administration degree at MRU.

The other three Youth 4 Change members are returning from last summer. They really had a leg up on me with regards to the knowledge of CCASAs' beliefs, key messages, and all of the programs and services that CCASA offers to their clients. That was quite intimidating to say the least, as time goes on however I'm starting to get a grasp of things, and hopefully I’ll be able to pass some of that wisdom onto you!!

It got me very excited on the first day to learn how passionate and excited the team was about continuing and expanding from what they had accomplished last year! To fill you all in here is (to the best of my understanding) last summer in 5 sentences or less. The team developed quite an elaborate multi-media campaign that included designing several posters, a 30 second public service announcement, as well developing a website with all the information any "youth" would need to know about sexual violence. They also were able attend several presentations that the CCASA staff runs for all different kinds of people from 5 years old, to working professionals. They created the Youth 4 Change tag line, "Because I don’t want Sexual Violence to be a part of my world". That tag line I think is the reason that all of us on the team want to spread our messages as well as create change in our society.

I have learned so much in the short time I have been here. That being said, before I began working here I had very little knowledge on the issue of sexual violence and how big of a problem it is in "my world". However, I do think that a lot of people share that lack of knowledge, and that’s nothing to be ashamed of. This is an issue that is ignored too often by society. It’s sad to say, but the average person is more educated on the Slap Chop then they would be on sexual violence.

The most surprising to me is how huge this problem is and how little it is talked about. Did you know 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men experience sexual abuse? According to statistics Canada in 2009 the Canadian population was 33 739 900. There is 16 732 500 men and 17 007 400 women. That means in Canada alone there are 8 457 883 people who have been impacted.

The largest non-racing stadium in the world is Rungrado May Day Stadium in Pyongyang North Korea, it seats 150 000 people. The 8 457 883 people in Canada that are affected by sexual violence could fill the stadium 56 and half times. Beaver Stadium in University Park is the home of the Penn State Nittnany Lions and is the largest non-racing stadium in North America. It seats upwards of 107 202 people. The people in Canada that are affected by sexual violence could fill the stadium 79 times!

If that’s not enough in 2007 the population of New York City was 8 274 527. That means there are 183 356 more people in Canada are affected by sexual abuse then the population of the largest city in North America. For the record that extra 183 356 people could fill Calgary’s McMahon stadium 5 times. WOW!

The Youth 4 Change team has a very busy summer planned. We are adding the final touches on our new website. We are also looking for places to launch, and support our poster campaign. The team is also looking for different locations and creative new ways to engage and educate youth in the city of Calgary on the issue of sexual violence and the support CCASA offers. We are going to begin the Youth 4 Change lunch time Blitz! We will be going out and about the city of Calgary during the lunch time hours. We will be well equipped with information pamphlets, our t-shirts, some cool prizes, and of course candy! Everybody loves candy!

If you see us out there in our black and white shirts, please come talk to us. Ask us questions, challenge our beliefs, and find out what we’re doing!

Hopefully I’ll be back here blogging telling you all about our exciting adventures very soon. Until then, stay up to date with what's going on with us here on our site. We are also on Face Book as Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse.

Later Days!

Continue reading