On Saturday Dylan Farrow accused her adoptive father, the filmmaker and actor Woody Allen, of sexual assault for the second time. She first made these allegations when she was seven years old, in the context of the custody battle between her separating parents. At the time, the case was considered too weak to proceed to a criminal trial. This time, she's asking the people who have worked with and supported him to respond and to be in some way accountable for any part they may have played in promoting or protecting him.
Now 28, she's asking that we not only take her claims seriously, but that we act on them. She's asking, after years of accolades for her adoptive father's genius, for the people who have worked with her father to bear some responsibility for her pain. This is some of what she said in an open letter published on 1 February in a New York Times blog:
That he got away with what he did to me haunted me as I grew up. I was stricken with guilt that I had allowed him to be near other little girls. I was terrified of being touched by men. I developed an eating disorder. I began cutting myself.
That torment was made worse by Hollywood. All but a precious few (my heroes) turned a blind eye. Most found it easier to accept the ambiguity, to say, 'who can say what happened', to pretend that nothing was wrong. Actors praised him at awards shows. Networks put him on TV. Critics put him in magazines. Each time I saw my abuser's face — on a poster, on a T-shirt, on television — I could only hide my panic until I found a place to be alone and fall apart.
Every week I sit across from women and men who have been sexually assaulted by members of their families. In over 15 years of practice, only two have witnessed the public withdrawal of privilege of their abusers. This is a fair representation of the statistical likelihood of abuse allegations leading to prosecution in Australia. The rest, including the daughters and sons of church officials, police officers, doctors, politicians and celebrities, have had to face the continued public adulation of their abusers alongside their silent suffering or public discrediting
So it both astounds and saddens me that in the outcry about Dylan Farrow's accusations, a common response has been that