As many of you have undoubtedly heard, American Idol, has returned to the television screen and found a new home on the ABC network. I recently ran across an article on Buzzfeed (the article is posted below) that shows Katy Perry kissing an American Idol contestant on the lips WITHOUT his consent and through the use of deception.
Benjamin Glaze came for an audition with the judges and they were making a joke about the Katy Perry song “I kissed a girl” and Benjamin stated he had never kissed a girl. Katy asked Benjamin to come over and he kissed her cheek but Katy wasn’t satisfied and thus asked him to do it again…only this time she turned her head and kissed him on the lips. Benjamin was obviously taken aback by the action and seemed rather uncomfortable.
What I found even more annoying was that Katy was then commended and egged on by fellow judges Luke Bryant and Lionel Richie. Luke went on to say to Katy “Did you get him?” Lionel went on to say “That was a major deal. Your fist kiss was Katy Perry.”
While Benjamin went on to say he felt uncomfortable and wanted his first kiss to be special and this was not what he wanted–he stated if Katy had asked him he would have said no.
So in an era where we are holding men like Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer accountable, why are we not doing the same for Katy Perry?
Obviously Hollywood has a problem! The NY Times posted an article in February 2018 that listed 71 men in Hollywood who have been accused of sexual misconduct in the past two years.
From a simple Google search, I couldn’t find any recent articles that even spoke to this. While I understand that women have a power disadvantage to their male counterparts, we cannot ignore the fact that women are also capable of conducting themselves in the same manner.
You could argue that Katy Perry’s behavior wasn’t as intense or abrasive as that of the many notable accounts of assault that are noted in the media, but consent isn’t about the level of intensity, it’s about the lack of communication of verbal or non-verbal agreements about any sort of physical engagement.
I strongly believe that if a 33 year old male had done the same act to a 19 year old female, we would be having a much different conversation. Behaviors cannot be held to a double standard! We must remember that consent is required regardless of your gender identity and that we need to acknowledge and respect each others boundaries.
Check out the article here
chriscbryant.com 