Perps' Profile:Early Warnings or Apple Pie

We have identified thirty-six men who have been accused of some form of sexual harassment. In order to get ahead of the rush to judgement we have decided to take a look at their personal and professional lives to see if there are any strong similarities that could serve as "warning signs" of what would come. Working from available public profiles, we looked at their early years as boys and young men, looking for evidence of early troubles at home or at school. We turned next to their post-college years in order to examine their career paths, searching for evidence of ordinary professional lives, or early indications of "young stars" on the move. In short, we looked at the normal profiles of events that occur over the life course and that have been a part of all of their lives.

Concerning age, the Perps are neither randy Millenials nor over-active Octagenarians. They are mostly middle-age men with ages between the upper 40s and mid-60s. This age category is probably closely correlated with their careers and the opportunities they have to oversee those who work with them and for them.

In their early lives, they were mostly raised in conventional middle-class families, often with parents who were both employed in stable careers. We found only one case of what could be called a dysfunctional family. As young adults, only about 30 percent entered into conventional marriages, and as a result there are not many children of these Perp parents.

There is no evidence of extensive early socialization with religion. Only one-third provide any evidence of religious up-bringing, and in these cases 10 Perps report being Jewish and 3 Christian. The absence of information about religious preference in the biographical material suggests that most had little or no religious preference.

There is an indication of involvement in selective early education, usually in so-called Academies aimed at being college-prep schools. Beyond the high school prep years, well over one-half of the Perps (25) obtained a college degree, with less than one-half (11) having graduated from an elite college or university.

The careers of the Perps are primarily in journalism, TV production, and animation. Contrary to expectations, there is no evidence of their having received a "leg up" in their careers or having done anything other than high quality professional work. There is evidence of  their professional achievements in the form of having shows nominated for professional awards. In short, their professional careers reflect continuous efforts to produce high quality journalism, films, or TV shows.

If the Perps are high achievers, they probably enjoyed the high regard of their professional colleagues. Why, then, would they believe that is was acceptable to use their positions to intimidate women working with or for them to act in ways that resulted in sexual harassment? The answer to this question would require an examination of the culture of these workplaces in the entertainment and television industries.