Poor Polanski....

Ruh-roh. Last week, film-maker Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland for the 1977 rape of Samantha Geimer. Having plead guilty to 'having sex with a minor', Polanski fled the U.S., fearing the judge would reneg on his plea agreement. He has been 'on the run' ever since - by the way, 'on the run' has meant living the good life in France, having lots of sex (hopefully consensually-and with people old enough to spell 'consent'-but one never knows). His arrest has been greeted with a suitable level of outrage from artists, writers, philosophers, politicians and journalists around the world. Yay! Justice is served.....

Wait a minute though....they seem to be outraged that Roman was arrested at all..... "Free Roman Polanski?

Surely these petitions are the work of back-water, unenlightened, hill-billy misogynist cavemen? Hmmm... Woody Allen? Herstorian doesn't understand. Oh, that's right. It's Woody Allen. He enjoys getting frisky with his adopted daughter. Don't worry. Didn't you know that artists with penises can do whatever they want? If they've got a solo exhibition or an endorsement from The Times or an Academy Award under their belt it's not disgusting, ladies, it's bohemian and enlightened. Anyways, Woody MUST be a one-off....

Wait a minute....Salman Rushdie? Milan Kundera? These aren't backwards hicks stuck in the Stone Age. These are our intelligentsia. These are our great thinkers. What is going on?

The Polanski case, and particularly the intensity of support for him from so many areas of seemingly enlightened public life, just reveals how little progress we've actually made in creating a world in which women can live free of the violence of sexual assault. And by violence, Herstorian doesn't just mean physical force, but the psychic and emotional violence of coercion, of manipulation, of threat or of the abuse of a position of power. Herstorian's answer: we need to start thinking more deeply about what the terms we use to describe rape, consent, power, or responsibility actually mean - and whether they are actually adequate descriptions of the way women move through the world, experience their bodies and interact with men. A more stringent definition of responsibility in the Roman Polanski case could leave no doubt - even in the mind of Salman Rushdie - that Polanski is a criminal and should be punished accordingly.

On a brighter note, now that Herstorian no longer has any respect for Salman Rushdie, she no longer feels obligated to suffer through Midnight's Children.