I wonder why. Must be racism.
Jeannie Suk Gersen, a professor at Harvard Law School who teaches criminal law and sexual harassment law, said the reason could be far simpler: Mr. Parker’s case was criminal and Mr. Affleck’s was civil.
“People carelessly conflate rape with the entire range of sexual misconduct that can occur,” Ms. Suk Gersen said. “It’s all repulsive. But both morally and legally there are distinctions — degrees of behavior. Parker was accused of something far more serious.” (Ms. Suk Gersen is particularly attuned to Mr. Parker’s case, having contributed an article in September to The New Yorker, “The Public Trial of Nate Parker.”)
…One of the women, a producer named Amanda White, said in her complaint against Mr. Affleck that she endured “uninvited and unwelcome sexual advances” on the set of the film “I’m Still Here,” which he directed. The other woman, the cinematographer Magdalena Gorka, accused Mr. Affleck of curling up next to her while she was sleeping and “caressing her back.”
I see a moral difference between leading a gang rape and caressing a woman’s back, but that could be just my white privilege speaking.
Comment at NYT: “Well, according to the article, the allegations against Mr. Parker involved rape, but the allegations against Mr. Affleck involved harassment. Not to oversimplify this issue, but the different treatment is more likely due to the differing degrees of the alleged crimes/torts. Perhaps the overall point of inequality is valid, but this is an outrageous example to use. It really undermines the article.”
I’m not aware of Casey Affleck being accused of leading a gang rape.