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