"WOMEN ARE STRONGER, smarter - and they don't fight fair."
That is one of the more notable cliches from the blockbuster movie, "Disclosure," ostensibly about sexual harassment, starring Michael Douglas and Demi Moore.I think the essence of sexual harassment is missing here. This movie is designed to purposely reverse the roles, allegedly to help men appreciate the problem. The person harassed is Michael Douglas, not Demi Moore.
Douglas, an executive on a fast track, hopes to step into a vacant vice presidency in a huge company run by the pompous Donald Sutherland. Unfortunately, he discovers he has been "passed over" in favor of an outsider.
The outsider happens to be a woman, Moore, with whom he had a long-ago romantic relationship. After her promotion announcement, she invites him to her office for a chat over fine wine - at 7 p.m., after regular office hours.
She intends romance. He seriously considers it business.
Their meeting quickly turns disgusting, because Moore's character blatantly approaches Douglas sexually. She tells him it is she who has the power. But the important difference in defining sexual harassment inflicted by a man and that initiated by a woman - at least in this case - is that the woman is seductive.
She does not physically overpower Douglas. She uses her considerable beauty to set up a romantic evening. Except it is not romantic, it is crass. Moore comes on so strongly that Douglas, a married man, has great difficulty extricating himself from the situation, even though he utters the word "No" 31 times.
Speaking as one who thought the reversal concept was a transparent attempt to make box-office money, I found myself sympathizing with Douglas. He is definitely used as a sex object.
On the other hand, some men might think it would be pleasant to be seduced by Demi Moore. In fact, this is nothing like most cases of sexual harassment, even if the roles were reversed.
It is true that Moore is Douglas' boss, and he is shocked and shaken by the experience. But he is not physically afraid of her. And when he finally decides to put on his jacket and leave, she is unable to stop him.
Try making the same statement if the harasser had been a man.
After the key scene in which Douglas rejects Moore, he goes home and has a frightening dream - of himself in an elevator with the big boss, Donald Sutherland, who makes a disgusting sexual overture. Douglas wakes up screaming.
That, I believe, should have been the real crux of this film.
In order to portray a case of sexual harassment in which the man is the victim, you need a male boss - a disgusting male boss, at that - to approach his male employee. The sudden realization that your male boss is not only the one who signs your checks but also a sexual deviate who may physically overpower you would be a genuine threat.
Any man would be scared and threatened in such a setting.
But he would not be scared by Demi Moore. In the movie she is arrogant - and strongly seductive - but she is not a physical threat. Toward the end of the movie, when it is clear that her allegations of sexual harassment against Douglas may not stick, she is asked if "no" really means "no."
Trying to step into the shoes of a disgusting male executive, she says, "Sometimes `no' means wanting to be overwhelmed."
An unmistakable rationalization - but if you think it means physically overwhelmed, forget it. The valid movie about sexual harassment is yet to be made.