The important news about Harvey Weinstein isn’t what he did.

The important news about Harvey Weinstein isn’t what he did.

Don’t get me wrong – what he did (and really, is there any point in putting “allegedly”?) is horrible. But sadly, it’s not new news. Whether we’re talking about Weinstein, Whedon, Cosby, Louis CK, or so very many men in politics (grab ’em by the …), there’s missing stairs in pretty much any area of public life where men have power. Even in our small part of sf/f/h fandom, we’ve had to deal with missing stairs in publishing and conventions of every size. (And yes, it happens to men too – including people like Terry Crews).

The important news, the real news, is that missing stairs are no longer being tolerated.

These predatory assholes have always been there. They have been part of every movement, every group1.

Their atrocities were always happening. That, sadly, is not new or news.

What is important, what is news, is that they’re being outed. They’re being named. And they’re being shunned in ways they never were before.

And that, my friends, is good news indeed.



1 Pointing this out because at least one person I’ve run into has tried to do the “but a liberal was like this too” schtick. If you’re going to judge a group, judge them by how they respond to this kind of revelation of a missing stair: do they cast them out, or do they elect them to office?