To just start with an aside, I always admire your refreshing honesty about how your own experiences and biases might intersect with a subject. I wish we’d all acknowledge these better (myself included!).

The #metoo movement has hit some muddy patches, hasn’t it? In the legal world, there are well-defined penalties for well-defined levels of abomination. A suggestive comment is not the same as a lewd remark is not the same as inappropriate touching is not the same as rape, etc. For some of the older perpetrators, the “lesser” transgressions were simply a part of the era they grew up in. This isn’t to say that they’re right, by any means, but I do remember a time when the majority of guys thought a suggestive comment or a pat on the behind was perfectly acceptable.

The desired response to #metoo for a lot of people seems to be scorched earth: these guys should never work again, no one should ever talk to them again, they should rot in the 9th circle of Dante’s hell. Of course some others are happy with an apology and life goes on. Certainly a gentle slap on the hand doesn’t send the right message to other perpetrators (or those who would be), but it also needs to be fair to both the level of crime and to the victim(s), as well.

I really don’t know what the answer should be, even though I’ve been struggling with it for awhile. I’m not well-read on Hoffman or Freeman’s transgressions so I can’t comment on them directly, but they’re certainly both of that era when the rules were different. Should they still apologize and own up to their actions? Most definitely. Should they be mentioned in the same breath as Weinstein, or removed from all store shelves? I don’t think so, based on what I know (again, not an expert on these two). I absolutely agree with you that they should be treated similarly, I just don’t know what that should entail!

Sorry for the long winded response…this issue has just been troubling me for awhile and I don’t feel like I’ve made any progress in defining my opinions!