THE CASTING COUCH – SORTA

THE CASTING COUCH – SORTA

By Mark Reed

Finally…brave women are stepping forward to “out” this pig, Harvey Weinstein. And finally, the not so brave “Hollywood Elites” who have know about it all along, are also stepping forward to express their “shock and outrage.” Yeah, right.

The “Casting Couch” is not just limited to Hollywood. It basically spreads across all segments of society in almost every business or social setting, where powerful persons (usually men, but not always), use their power over those less powerful, and usually those most vulnerable – the young, usually young women, but sometimes young men. It is disgusting and needs to be called out for the obscene behavior it is.

Perhaps this “Weinstein” event will lead to much needed changes, and also to help those abused and taken advantage of to find the courage to step up and say “NO” not anymore.

This sort of thing has been going on pretty much forever, and will likely continue.

As this event unfolds before our eyes on National TV, the press and Social Media, it has gotten people to talking.

My wife, Michelle, a beautiful woman, was a Stewardess/Flight Attendant for Delta Airlines for over thirty years. I asked her, as a beautiful young woman, whether or not she had ever experienced something similar to what is being reported. She said she had been lucky and that the closest she had come to this sort of thing was when she was twenty-one years old and applied to Delta for a job and flew to Atlanta for her job interview in 1972. She shared that the young man who interviewed her, maybe in his early thirties, was very handsome with a great outgoing personality.

She remembers the experience as not being unpleasant, but that the interview and some of the questions and comments by the young man, were perhaps borderline inappropriate and that she felt a certain unease. She obviously wanted this job. It was a coveted position that only a few of many applicants were chosen for. Those chosen were usually attractive young women. The young man told her numerous times that she was a beautiful young woman and certainly attracted a lot of attention from men, all the while getting up and coming around and sitting on the corner of the desk next to her, invading her space. While this was, in fact, true, what did that have to do with the interview process and whether or not she was qualified to become a Stewardess (what they were called at that time).

As in any job interview, the applicant tries to put their best foot forward and convince the interviewer to hire them. The bottom line is that Michelle was hired, and she did not see this young man again.

As she went through her Stewardess training with her classmates, and as relationships and friendships formed, the young women would discuss all sorts of things. One topic was the interview process, and the single one thing that almost every one of them had experienced. Each one shared that she had felt a vague uncomfortableness during the interview with the same young man. Each one of them felt that he was coming on to them and flirting. No one said that it went beyond that, but each knew that this young man had the power over whether or not they would be hired. Therefore each of them went along and smiled, hoping they would be hired.

They all felt it was actually pretty funny. In fact, none of them were upset, just glad that they had made the cut and were hired. The consensus was that while maybe it was a totally innocent exchange, each of them, being attractive women, knew when they were being hit on. The feeling was, don’t be surprised if you hear from this guy at some point, asking you out. Maybe it was his way of meeting pretty women and setting the stage for possible relationships. The new hires were possibly his dating pool.

Anyway, some of the women decided that it would be a hoot to do a skit before graduation, and therefore a couple of them set up the skit comprised of one of them being the interviewer and the other the interviewee. It was funny. Except it didn’t turn out to be funny for the guy. The word is that Delta didn’t think it was funny, professional or acceptable for their interviewer to be hitting on applicants. Supposedly he was fired. Good for Delta.

Was this situation the same as the “Weinstein” scenario? No, but it just goes to show that this sort of thing, in varying degrees goes on pretty much everywhere.