Teen Trouble

This just about takes the cake.

Imagine being plied with money, jewelry, and a sweet little car from your married employer. You accept all these, and then embark on what you self-describe as a "consensual" sexual relationship with your boss. Then, you think it over, and decide that maybe it's not the right thing for an eighteen-year-old babe like you to be dicking around with a 47-year-old man. Now what? You up and accuse your employer of sexual harassment?

Delicious thought.

Well, that's exactly what happened to Mr. Christie Brinkley (or, as he is less famously known, Peter Cook) and his employee, the teen heroine in this true to life story, Miss Diana Bianchi.

Diana was hired to work in Mr. Brinkley's architectural firm, and she claims she was then seduced by Mr. Brinkley, who by the way was still married to supermodel Christie. Naturally, a scandal erupts, and Mr. Brinkley is held up to public scorn. He is contrite, he apologizes, and declares his love for Christie, who by the way is ten years older than him. And as for the girl who led Mr. Brinkley astray with her fresh flesh?

This is how the news report described the situation: "Her lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, described the relationship as consensual, but claimed Cook's role as employer and his gifts of a car, money and jewelry could possibly constitute sexual harassment."

Harassment?! Er, excuse me, but did I hear that right?

We all know what harassment is - it's that oppressive feeling you get when a superior breathes down your neck (however heavily breath-minted it is) and makes insinuations ranging from vague to downright disgusting about how nice it would be to chuck off all your clothes and do the nasty. It's when you work late at night and you look up, and there he is, your middle-aged heavily bearded boss looking at you with drool leaking out from the side of his mouth. (No, I'm not speaking from personal experience, this is just my vivid imagination talking).

The essence of harassment is power, and the lack thereof. (He has the power, and you don't). You need the job, or you need a promotion, or you need a raise. So, you have no choice but to say yes to a sexual proposition. That's sexual harassment.

So in the case of Diana Bianchi, my questions are: "Well, sweetie, exactly how were you harassed? Did he threaten to shove the jewelry down your throat? You were so scared you had no choice but to grudgingly accept delivery of the car and you were then forced to drive it home? You were, in fact, so petrified with fear that it gave you no choice but to spend all the cash given you?"

Ok, that might have been a little bit brutal, but I think even if she was eighteen years young, she should have known there's a difference between actions borne out of fear and actions resulting from greed. So I'm not too keen on excusing Ms. Bianchi on account of her age.

The quid pro quo here is different. It's not a job or a promotion in exchange for sexual favors, which is what sexual harassment usually is. Instead, here we have money and jewelry in exchange for sexual favors, which in my books, is something I normally consider as prostitution.

So, what was this? Should we just chalk this up as a PR spin by the lawyers? Instead of letting Diana be painted as the naughty Lolita who wrecked the marriage of American icon Christie Brinkley, they're just trying to cast her in a different light, that of a victim's?

Maybe. It makes sense because it panders to the stereotypical thinking that if it's sexual harassment, the woman's the victim, whereas in prostitution, the woman's at least as guilty as the man who paid for her services. (In fact, in some cultures like our traditional macho society, the woman's more to blame than the philandering husband).

If this was the case, too bad. It just reinforces outdated thinking on the plight of prostitution. It also muddles up the issues. Suddenly, giving gifts to favored employees becomes fraught with danger and viewed with suspicion. Whatever happened to that adage - calling a spade, a spade?

Maybe they should have just cast Diana as a naïve girl blinded by Tiffany and Cartier. (I must confess, I have similar moments). Because right now, at least with the facts out there, I don't buy her story.

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