Hollywood’s rape culture is as alive today as it was when Bill Cosby allegedly drugged and raped countless women.
Ke$ha, the 28-year-old pop icon, filed a lawsuit against her producer, Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald, last year. She accused him of physically and verbally assaulting her for almost a decade. She said Gottwald drugged her, raped her and held her career hostage after she confronted him.
Ke$ha pushed for a court injunction to allow her to work with other producers and record labels. She’s stuck in a contract with her accused rapist, and she said she doesn’t want to work with him anymore.
“I know I cannot work with Dr. Luke,” Ke$ha said in an affidavit. “I physically cannot. I don’t feel safe in any way. He has threatened me many times. ‘Three strikes and you’re out,’ he told me.”
Gottwald and his team decided to take the classic victim-blaming approach.
“If Ke$ha now regrets her career being mired in legal proceedings, it’s entirely her making,” a spokesperson for Gottwald said.
In other words, they’re punishing Ke$ha for speaking out against rape and assault. She can have her safety or her career, but she can’t have both.
Sony, the company housing Gottwald’s record label, chose to play the rape apologist role in this situation. The company claimed to have no part in this situation and said it was simply “caught in the crossfire.”
Sony might be caught in the crossfire, but that doesn’t erase the company’s duty to protect its singers. Ke$ha has made money for them, and she sang music they wrote even when she wanted to sing her own songs instead.
This problem is a glimpse of the larger problems within Hollywood and its rape culture. In 2013, Emilia Clarke refused to do any more nude scenes for “Game of Thrones.” She said she wanted to be known for her acting skills and not her breasts.
Kate Beckinsale is another example. Her director forced her to do a nude scene for a movie. He wouldn’t budge even after she begged him, so she peed in her director’s thermos as revenge. Long story short, this woman is my new idol.
I’m personally all for nudity. I find it to be an empowering way to reclaim your body when society usually tells you to cover up, but body sovereignty is more important. While the women previously mentioned didn’t go through the physical abuse Ke$ha endured, I’m sure they’re scarred for life.
I can’t imagine someone forcing me to take off my clothes or to sleep with them for a job. Then again, I’m also male and will probably never have to deal with that situation because society doesn’t sexualize me the same way it sexualizes women.
Whatever your opinions are about Ke$ha as a performer, nobody should have to choose between unemployment and working in an uncomfortable environment.
Cody Sibley is a 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from Opelousas, Louisiana. You can reach him on Twitter
@CodySibley.