Industry Standards

I wrote about Hollywood pedophilia in 2011. We are not calling these assaults pedophilia today, maybe because the ones we are hearing were assaulted are a little older, but in 2011 it was well-known.  Read actor Anthony Edwards’ story on how he was molested as a child actor by Gary Goddard. Following is a repeat of my blog.

The shocking story of Hollywood pedophilia with child actors is just industry standard according to the story that broke in 2011. It was common knowledge and everybody knew about it. Nobody did anything about it because it affected their paychecks, their careers, and their reputation. Why should any other actor stand up and speak out.

The parents knew it, but they knew on which side their bread was buttered. The kid earning the money made them wealthy. So they turned their backs on their own child to keep the money coming in. The other workers knew it, but they made their livings by being in successful television shows or movies and they would not jeopardize their livings for the sake of a kid. The kid knew it, but how could he or she speak up? Who would listen? Kid actors like attention and according to the report, they were perfect targets for such an atrocity to start with, and once started, could not end it easily.

At first glance that is shocking. But it should not be. We all seek to protect ourselves and our jobs and security. The attitude often is, “If nobody else speaks up, I’m not going to.” We put up with the most awful things because they are just industry standards.

Churches and denominations have industry standards. Someone sent me a link to a church in Canada that flatly says that women cannot read the Bible in Worship service, because it is the Word of God and women cannot teach the Word of God. That, too, is shocking at first glance. But it should not be.

When was the last time you heard a woman reading the Bible out loud in a Worship Service? Probably never, because it is industry standard that keeps women from standing before the congregation and reading out loud from the Bible. Will you help us shine a light on these practices that restrict women in a worship service? Will you speak up and tell them that we will no longer put up with these “industry standards? (from my book Women Equal-No Buts: Powered by the same Source Page 33)