MeToo Movement Sees Backlash With Aziz Ansari Accusation

One woman's accusation of sexual misconduct against comedian and actor Aziz Ansari has not drawn the swift condemnation of Ansari that has been typical in the #MeToo era. People are divided over whether the sexual encounter described by a 23-year-old woman has a place in the current movement or whether it was just a bad date.

The woman, a Brooklyn-based photographer identified as "Grace," described a sexual encounter at Ansari's apartment, during which she said the actor repeatedly ignored or didn't notice her verbal and non-verbal cues that she was uncomfortable. Grace's account was published by the website Babe.net over the weekend.

The piece described the sexual encounter between the two in vivid detail and Grace says that at one point she stopped moving and her lips turned cold. The night would end with Grace in an Uber, where she said she cried the entire ride home to her Brooklyn apartment.

Ansari released a statement, saying that when Grace texted him the next day to say she had been uncomfortable, he took her words to heart and responded privately to the message. In his statement, Ansari said the sexual activity was completely consensual and he continues to support the movement in which hundreds of women have spoken out about sexual harassment and assault.

The reaction to the woman's account was markedly divided. Some said it was a setback for the current movement, while others said it started a much needed conversation about sexual encounters where men are in control of the power dynamics and women are conditioned to put the needs of others over their own.

"The Humiliation of Aziz Ansari," was the headline of an opinion piece in The Atlantic, which proclaimed that Ansari had been assassinated in a professional sense because of one woman's anonymous account. "Aziz Ansari Is Guilty. Of Not Being a Mind Reader," read a headline in The New York Times. The piece argued that Ansari was likely aggressive, selfish and obnoxious, but lumping him in with the same movement that brought down men like Harvey Weinstein trivializes what #MeToo stands for.

"Dear Grace, not your real name, I'm sorry that you had a bad date, I have had a few myself, they stink," Ashleigh Banfield, host of HLN's Crime and Justice, declared in an open letter to Ansari's accuser.

"After protesting his moves, you did not get up and leave right away, you continued to engage in the sexual encounter," Banfield said. "By your own clear description, this was not a rape, nor was it a sexual assault. By your description, your sexual encounter was unpleasant."

Banfield went on to say the encounter did not send the woman to the police, affect her workplace or her ability to get a job. She questioned whether having a bad date was what prompted the woman to seek a public conviction and a career-ending sentence against Ansari.

"Is that truly what you thought he deserved for your night out?" Banfield asked. She accused the woman of chiseling away at a movement that Banfield said she and her sisters in the workplace had been dreaming of for decades.

Yet another piece in The Guardian argued that the story was a missed opportunity.

"It’s a shame. Not because these stories shouldn’t be told – if anything, we need to talk more about how pervasive power imbalances benefit men and make sex worse for women," wrote Jill Flipovic. "But instead of telling this particular story with the care it called for, it was jammed into a pre-existing movement grounded in the language of assault and illegality."

In the Babe.net piece, Grace says that her friends helped her grapple with the aftermath of that night and it took her a long time to view what happened as sexual assault. She told Babe that she believes she was taken advantage of by Aziz.

For some, there was no doubt that Grace's account deserves to be a part of the broader #MeToo movement.

"The Aziz Ansari story is a good litmus test for who sees sexual misconduct as a strictly legal question and who is concerned about improving the overall culture surrounding sex and dating," David Klion, a freelance writer, tweeted. "It's also many times more relevant to the average person's experience than, say, Weinstein."

Jessica Valenti, a feminist author, tweeted that the standard for sexual behavior has to be more than what's legal or illegal but rather about what's right.

The editorial team at Babe.net is standing behind the piece.

Joshi Herrmann, editor-in-chief of Babe's parent company Tab Media, told CNN Money that the piece is newsworthy because of Ansari's prominence and what he has said in his standup comedy routine.

"Her account is pointing out a striking tension between those things and the way she says he treated her in private," Hermann told CNN.

Also Watch: Aziz Ansari Reacts To Sexual Assault Allegations

Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/Associated Press