The #MeToo movement launched a few weeks ago to call out sexual harassers and abusers. We've seen it come up in the rock world with members of Pierce the Veil and Suicide Silence among others. Others including Marilyn Manson bassist Twiggy Ramirez, who was accused of raping an ex-girlfriend and stepped down from Manson's band.
In a recent interview with the U.K.'s Channel 4, Marilyn Manson was asked about the #MeToo movement and offered a controversial take:
“I just don’t want to see this turn Hollywood into something that takes away from films being made."
“That’s not to disrespect those people that are saying the allegations. I just think that if you have something to say, you should say it to the police, not to the press and handle it that way first and foremost. That’s what I would do.”
“There are always allegations, of course, but when someone starts complaining about something that happened that seems a little bit not as serious as sexual assault, I think that’s insulting to people who have been sexually assaulted,” Manson says.
When asked for an example, Manson notes “It pisses me off when someone says, ‘I got an inappropriate gift’ or something, that’s not the same as being harmed.” He adds:
“Maybe all men are bad or all men can’t do anything inappropriate,” Manson says. “It makes you feel you can't even say… or if I meet her [motions off camera] and if I look at her the wrong way, I'm going to be accused of something wrong.”
He added that the "snowball effect [..] could really ruin a lot of people’s lives that don’t need to be ruined."
So there you have it, ladies. If a guy is aggressively approaching you beyond the respectable confines of flirting, or if a coworker gives you an inappropriate gift, like a dildo, suck it up because Marilyn Manson might be be able to watch his favorite movie otherwise. Manson's privileged viewpoint can be seen about 30 minutes into this interview.
Update: People seem to be saying that my last paragraph is out of line and I'm taking the comments he made out of context. I am not. If he doesn't understand how giving "an inappropriate gift" or going too far in terms of "flirting" is harassment, then that is where we are in disagreement. Flirting is a two-way street, if the woman you are "flirting" with isn't responding favorably to "flirts" then it quickly turns into harassment. He is not taking sexual harassment seriously, while being sympathetic to issues of assault. That's the point I was making.
