LONDON LETTER: Standing strong in a real man’s world

MOST of you will have heard of Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood movie mogul who’s accused of taking the casting couch system of seducing actresses to even greater lows.

I had never heard of him before all the lurid details emerged in the press, but I’m not a Hollywood buff.

However, I’ve seen some of the films he’s made, such as Good Will Hunting, Pulp Fiction and, ironically, Sex, Lies and Videotapes.

I’ve also heard of the company he started, Miramax, which brought adventure sports such as big wave surfing and rock climbing to screens with such stunning reality that you thought you were the guy riding that tsunami, or hanging onto a tiny ledge with just a couple of clouds separating you and the earth 1 000 metres below.

Today, Weinstein is more famous as a pervert, having allegedly made disgusting advances to actresses such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Angeline Jolie, Kate Beckinsale, Ashley Judd and Bond girl Eva Green.

Those are some serious A-listers, so one can only guess at the B-team beauties who don’t have the same clout as, say, Ms Paltrow.

Apparently, Harvey’s predilection to hitting on actresses a fraction of his age was an open Hollywood secret, and now that he has been exposed, so to speak, his once-adoring fans are jostling each other to stab him in the back.

But even so, it’s not really Uncle Harvey’s fault, they say. It’s the culture of ‘masculinity’ that is to blame.

I agree. Masculinity is totally to blame. But not in the way the hand-wringing Tinseltown luvvies are claiming. It’s actually a lack of masculinity.

Look at Hollywood’s ‘supermen’. Most big-name actors are ripped with designer-muscle and all have played tough guy roles. Yet in real life, they are total wussies.

Of all the ‘heroes’ of the big screen, only two actually said something about Weinstein’s allegedly appalling behaviour.

One was Brad Pitt, who threatened to give Weinstein a ‘Missouri whooping’ when the fat tycoon hit on his then-girlfriend, Gwyneth Paltrow.

I guess a ‘whooping’ is what we non-luvvies would call a ‘knuckle sandwich’. But it doesn’t matter, because it never happened. Pitt proved to be as pathetic as the rest of the Hollywood hunks and was working with Weinstein a year later.

The other is comedian Seth MacFarlane, who said a joke he made at Weinstein’s expense while hosting the Oscars was done out of malice.

So in all of Hollywood, those are the only cases of a man being willing to stand up to Weinstein. And both were pretty pitiful.

Traditional man

I grew up in an age where masculinity was ingrained in everything we did. The angriest I have seen my father was when I was cheeky to a woman as a young boy.

He gave me a clout — the only time he ever raised a hand to me. He didn’t need to do it again.

I was taught to open doors for women and give up seats on a bus. I was taught that men were protectors and providers.

Masculinity was standing up to bullies, but still being gentle and courteous. It was about showing respect, chivalry and not tolerating injustice.

I’m not saying I always did that, but I knew what was right.

It’s equally important to state what masculinity was not about. It was not about taking advantage of people or abusing trust or authority. And it certainly was never about fathering children and abandoning the mother.

Ahhh … but the hipsters today say that is wrong. All masculinity is toxic, and teaching it to children perpetuates that toxicity. Masculinity breeds men such as Weinstein. In other words, he is a victim and it is Western culture that is to blame.

That’s what this entire sordid story has degenerated into. The hipsters and social justice warriors are so determined to frame the narrative that they’ve confused — deliberately — jerks such as Weinstein with traditional masculinity.

They could not be more wrong. At the very least, traditional masculinity would have seen a real man pound Weinstein into the pavement.

That would certainly have cured him of his alleged problems far quicker than the sex addiction rehab he’s currently undergoing.