Book Review: Catch and Kill

Image: The cover of the book is a black background with blocky, solid illustrations and letters in white and/or red. Across the top is small red letters it says "new york times bestseller." Under that in very large white letters, each word on a new line, is "Catch and kill." Next to that in small red letters is "Lies, Spies, and a conspiracy to protect predators." Under and to the left of the title is a large cutout of a red hand that is sewing shut a pair of cutout white and grey lips. Below that is the author's name- Ronan Farrow- in white letters and below that in smaller red letters is, "winner of the pulitzer prize."

Content warning: this review has many direct mentions of many kinds of sexual and other violence, but no graphic descriptions.

I followed many of the sexual misconduct news stories around when the events in Ronan Farrow's "Catch and Kill" took place. The words "sexual misconduct" feel inappropriate to use as they make it seem more acceptable than it is. I understand the use of these words both as a method to cover a wide range of offenses and also perhaps to reduce the triggering effects of more intense words like rape. It is difficult to know exactly what words to use. I know this may seem like I am getting hung up of words, but this book taught me how serious words can be in these situations. Catch and Kill chronicles not only a movement to expose sexually violent men in media industries, but also just how rampant and terrifying interwoven sexual violence, power differentials, intimidation, stalking, libel, and other ways of literally destroying the careers and lives of women is a central part of many media industries. 

I knew that the vast amount of rape and other forms of sexual violence and intimidation at the hands of Harvey Weinstein and others like him were horrific, widespread, and hidden for a long time. What I did not know is what they and those who tried to expose these things went through after the initial events of sexual violence. It is infuriating and terrifying just how hard Ronan Farrow had to work to get these womens stories out there. While Farrow constantly repeats that he wants the story to be about the women and not him, it is clear that compassionate reporters must also be included in the pile of victims of these powerful, criminal men and all the men (and some women) who fight to protect them. It is clear that a great many reporters before Farrow were never able to publish their findings due to pay offs, intimidation, stalking, threats, and a climate of terror that was created by rapists and their protectors. Farrow himself mentions going into the fight thinking it would be stressful, but laughing it off when an informant told him he should consider getting a gun or some form of protection. By the end, he was no longer laughing. The sheer amount of harassment, intimidation, homophobia, misogyny, stalking, threats, loss, and everything else Farrow had to power through just to get this story out is immense. I kept asking myself, "How many more women did this happen to after every survivor, whistleblower, and journalist was intimidated and threatened into silence? How many artists did we lose? How many women could have become more prolific in their fields had they not been privately and publicly destroyed by these campaigns to silence them after they experienced sexual violence?"

I am not going to list everything that happens in detail for a couple of reasons. The first is that so many things happened that I don't think I can accurately summarize it in a review that remains reasonably short enough for its purposes. Second, I want everyone to read this book. It not only contains important information, but it is written and presented very well. I found myself completely immersed in the same ways I would reading a well written thriller or watching an exciting series. Not only do we get to dive deep into the occurrences around a long history of attempts and failures to expose sexual violence in and around media industries, we get to be entertained in the process. I use the word "entertained" because I couldn't think of another, but let me be clear. I don't mean that this is a fun read. I mean that it is an immersing, well written, exciting and terrifying account of real events.

Despite how well composed and exciting the book was, it was incredibly difficult to get through at times. Farrow manages to highlight these womens struggles in ways that were so realistic and accurate. So often in stories of sexual violence, there is an image created of the perfect virgin Mary type of victim and the horrible evil love wolf perpetrator because human beings tend to like binaries and black and white representations. They like stories that are easy to comprehend and they like villains that seem to be of a world outside their own. The problem is that these false representations make it all that much easier for people like Weinstein to use all of his resources to malign his victims publicly. Oh, this woman was possibly a sex worker and this woman had a lot of sex and this woman was flirtatious and this woman acted like this and this woman is just plain crazy. The truth of the matter is that rape and sexual violence happens to people- real people with real diverse struggles and histories. It happens at the hands of people we love, know, trust, and look up to. In fact, most violence happens at the hands of people we know, not strangers. 

Some survivors of sexual violence do everything in their power to find some way to avoid what happened being real. This can result in a variety of responses including continued association with the aggressor. Furthermore, when someone's entire career or their life itself is dependent upon her silence, then it is not surprising at all that she may remain silent. Those things are coping mechanisms of people facing aggressors without the kind of resources and power Weinstein had. Adding the power into the mix makes it all the more terrifying. The women who chose to come forward astounded me and undoubtedly saved many women that could have come after them. Now, I want to be clear, victims are not at fault for any victims that may suffer after them (unless they voluntarily become a honeypot or something.) But, one survivor of sexual violence at the hands of Matt Lauer mentions that many women before her likely fear for the women to come after them and that she felt the same about women that could be hurt after her. It captures the reality of how the actual aggressors and ones with the most power not only get away with sexual violence, but they also manage to place all responsibility for their actions onto their victims. Not only are survivors of said violence struggling with the violence itself, they rack their brains looking for what they did wrong and what will happen as a result of their actions. This is one of the ways that sexual violence creates a particularly vast power dynamic. 

I could go on and on about this topic, but others have said many things I could say already. I want to also echo Ronan Farrow in hopes that the womens struggles and stories will remain at the center of this story. The greater the power dynamic, be it socially, physically, financially, professionally, or in other dimensions, the more possibility there is for struggle and damage. This story involves extreme events in a setting that completely normalized them to the point that some people, mostly but not all men, saw it as just a necessary facet of the industry. Through the courage of survivors and related people who came forward knowing they could or would lose everything and the journalists like Farrow that were willing to go against intimidation by almost everyone they knew, a vast realm of abuses was exposed and consequences finally took place. It was not and will never be enough to make up for what happened. But, there are successes and when people can fight, they can win. As far as I am concerned, Catch and Kill should be read by everyone- both for the story itself and the far reaching implications of what happens in stories like this. I don't have a witty sentence to end this with as my mind is still reeling. Just go read it.

This was also posted to my goodreads.