I know there has been stuff about Erin Andrews everywhere lately, some good and some bad, but I just had to post this. Apparently she is now being harassed by the paparazzi (shocking I know!) and she recently made a 911 call about it. Of course, this call has found it's way to the interwebs and it is, also of course, being picked apart by various bloggers.
Well this one Yahoo sports blogger, Chris Chase, has decided that Erin Andrews' story of being filmed in the nude in her hotel room is "full of contradictions" and "there are shades of gray everywhere." Um, I'd like to give that a big: NO, and a big: What...The...Fuck...?!?!
According to Mr. Chase, people have been saying everything from about Erin Andrews from her being a victim to "she brought it on herself, blame the bloggers, blame the internet, etc. There is no right answer though." Yes, there is a right answer: she is a victim. A victim of a horrible crime of someone deciding to peep into her hotel room, video tape her while she was naked and post that video on the internet! That is the right answer Mr. Chase. How can one even begin to describe that situation as being one that has "shades of gray?"
And, of course, in his and many others' eyes her 911 call only furthers their idea that she's in it for the fame. Maybe she leaked the tape herself to get more popular? After all, she did refer to herself during the call as "the girl that was videotaped in my hotel room in the nude" and said she's been "all over the news." Doesn't that just mean she's an attention-seeking whore?
Generally I avoid comments on these types of horrid blog posts but two did stick out as actually using their brains and, I think, are worth noting:
Nikkithunder said: "I want to know how Erin "cultivated her sex appeal"....because she is attractive, that means she's automatically using her body to get more attention? It seems as if you are criticizing her for being upset about people all of a sudden prying into her personal life. You said that "she lived in front of the cameras". No she hasn't. She's done a job in front of the cameras...two totally different things. She has had her privacy taken away from her, and it seems as if it's being insinuated that she's being hypocritical, because now she has reporters outside of her house, and that makes her a bit upset. I hope the person who did this is brought to justice, and I hope that she could somehow revive her career, whether it be on ESPN, or anywhere else, b/c nobody deserves such humiliation. This post is overly judgmental and insensitive to me."
And Rich C: "Chris Chase...there are issues of gray everywhere? If you really believe that you are an idiot. She was filmed through a peep hole, what part of that is remotely acceptable? She isn't like Paris Hilton or Kim who filmed a sex tape. She wasn't doing anything other than staying in a hotel room, yet somehow she brought this on herself by clamoring to be on dancing with the stars? Are you crazy? She is a beautiful woman, and to assert that she brought this one herself because she wanted fame is ridiculous. Fame doesn't equal videos of you naked across the web, the fact that you would assert that is crazy. This is one of the rare issues that is black and white. Somebody filmed her without her knowledge in a private place, without her approval. That is illegal, and to assume that she was somehow asking for it sounds childish."
So how about a big Friday Feminist Fuck you to Chris Chase and the rest of those jackasses who think this situation has "shades of gray?"
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I defintely agree that this blatant victim blaming is NOT ok. But I have one additional point regarding the Paris Hilton sex tape. While she may or may not have consented to taping it, she did not consent to having it released to the public. I admit that I watched her Mtv documentary ("Paris not France") and when she addressed the sex tape issue, her sentiments really resonated with me as statements a survivor of sexual assault would say (she felt violated and balmed herself, etc.). I've been thinking a lot since then about how I had previously judged the situation as a publicity stunt, etc. Were my previous judgments forms of vicitm blaming? I think yes, just as the "shades of gray" comment was victim blaming.
I have not watched either Paris' sex tape or her statements regarding it. But I was not trying to say the release of said tape without her permission was okay (neither I think was the commenter on the Yahoo blog). I think they were just comparing that at least in that instance Paris consented to being filmed. Erin Andrews had no clue about anything so no "shades of gray" can even attempt to creep in. That's what makes this bloggers statements even more assholish.
OMG, don't read the comments if you don't want to get pissed off. Talk about a culture with a sense of entitlement. Erin Andrews just wants to be left alone, and is trying hard to preserve her reputation and privacy in a culture that crosses the line and feels that they have the right to pervade every inch of a person's private life, celebrity or otherwise. It mainly happens to women, and it really makes me sick.
She did not ask for this. Campaigning to be on "Dances With The Stars" is entirely different from being harassed outside of her own home and being watched through her window. These commenters need to get a life and/or preferably grow a conscience and a brain. And she was by no means acting stuck up in that phone call. She was polite and to the point. She was simply giving the operator background information and trying to explain the situation to her. If anything showed, it was her frustration of the situation. I'm sorry but this is just a small snippet and example of the "rape culture" we live in, with blaming the victim and feeling entitled to harass her.