"Do you know your mother makes sex movies?"
wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf
Today’s reminder that maternal ideals are B A D comes from this Hollywood Reporter article, which details the fact that Sharon Stone was told she was un-castable because she “wasn’t sexy,” only to be cast in Basic Instinct, directed by Paul Verhoeve, a man who called Sharon “Karen” throughout the shooting of Basic Instinct, a man who made sure to tell Sharon she was his 13th choice for the role of Catherine Tramell, a man who asked Sharon to remove her panties when filming a certain scene in Basic Instinct because they were supposedly “reflecting the light,” a man who assured her the audience wouldn’t “see anything,” a man who included that scene in which the audience could “see everything” in the final cut of Basic Instinct without Sharon Stone’s consent.
This story, of course, has everything to do with Sharon Stone’s fitness as a parent as is illustrated by a judge apparently removing Sharon Stone’s custody rights on the basis of her making “sex movies,” a point this judge raised with Sharon’s four-year-old son during the custody hearing.
Man who manipulates a woman into removing her clothing before filming her genitals without her consent? Celebrated auteur.
Woman who’s manipulated into removing her clothing on film only to discover that her vulva is on display for any of the thousands of people who chose/choose to see Basic Instinct?
Bad mom.
When I see my daughter loving’ her 90s jeans that she thrifted in her latest haul, I remind her what it was really like being a young woman then. The post-sexual revolution 90s were supposed to be freeing for women too. But to me it seemed more about giving heterosexual men as much access with as little accountability as possible. And it wasn’t just powerful Hollywood type men. It was men with any little bit of relative power. The assistant fast food manager would be enough. A coach. A popular kid at school.
To be clear, I’m not against men, AT ALL. Most guys I know aren’t jerks. I have a husband, brothers and sons. But the problem then was too many would-if-he-could type guys DID and then were never held accountable. Meanwhile women were blamed and branded with a scarlet letter S. And in many cases, that branding was life altering.
What the hell!!