(This is the price our society and culture pay for our lack of discernment - throughout both secular and churchian - Hebrews 5:11-6:2 - how often has the pulpit of your church addressed this issue...if ever? At best, we simply ignore it and hope our kids won't see it - depending on their ignorance to keep them safe. If anyone can point out that the Bible teaches ignorance - as compared to knowledge and understanding - please inform me as to where. If we are to be salt and light.....when do we start? When exactly are we to be serious?
New York Magazine publishes a cover article going into copious detail on Neil Gaiman’s alleged sex crimes. There is only one new accuser, and the article abruptly shies away from the obvious question about his current relationship to Scientology and how that has benefited his career, but the details of the existing accusations are worse than even those of us with longtime suspicious about the man had imagined. Note that the quoted section below is about as innocuous as it gets, be warned that Gaiman’s described behavior isn’t merely immoral, illegal, and offensive, but very literally disgusting.
Around four in the afternoon on February 4, Pavlovich took the ferry from Auckland to Waiheke, then sat on a bus and walked through the woods until she arrived at Gaiman’s house, an asymmetrical A-frame of dark burnished wood with picture windows overlooking the sea. Palmer had arranged a playdate for the child, so not long after Pavlovich arrived, she found herself alone in the house with the author. For a little while, Gaiman worked in his office while she read on the couch. Then he emerged and offered her a tour of the grounds. A striking figure at 61, his wild black curls threaded with strands of silver, the author picked a fig — her favorite fruit — and handed it to her. Around 8 p.m., they sat down for pizza. Gaiman poured Pavlovich a glass of rosé and then another. He drank only water. They made awkward conversation about New Zealand, about COVID. Pavlovich had never read any of his work, but she was anxious to make a good impression. After she’d cleaned up their plates, Gaiman noted that there was still time before they would have to pick up his son from the playdate. “‘I’ve had a thought,’” she recalls him saying. “‘Why don’t you have a bath in the beautiful claw bathtub in the garden? It’s absolutely enchanting.’” Pavlovich told Gaiman that she was fine as she was but ultimately agreed. He needed to make a work call, he said, and didn’t want Pavlovich to be bored.
Gaiman led Pavlovich down a stone path into the garden to an old-fashioned tub with a roll top and walked away. She got undressed and sank into the bath, looking up at the furry magenta blossoms of the pohutukawa tree overhead. A few minutes later, she was surprised to hear Gaiman’s footsteps on the stones in the dark. She tried to cover her breasts with her arms. When he arrived at the bath, she saw that he was naked. Gaiman put out a couple of citronella candles, lit them, and got into the bath. He stretched out, facing her, and, for a few minutes, made small talk. He bitched about Palmer’s schedule. He talked about his kid’s school. Then he told her to stretch her legs out and “get comfortable.”
“I said ‘no.’ I said, ‘I’m not confident with my body,’” Pavlovich recalls. “He said, ‘It’s okay — it’s only me. Just relax. Just have a chat.’” She didn’t move. He looked at her again and said, “Don’t ruin the moment.” She did as instructed, and he began to stroke her feet. At that point, she recalls, she felt “a subtle terror.”
Now that a mainstream magazine is willing to directly address the issue, and now that it’s apparent from the details provided that this guy is not merely bumping up against the borders of consent, but is a full-fledged predator and rapist, it’s going to be a lot harder for publishers like Harper Collins, Folio Society, Easton Press, and Penguin Random House to blithely continue publishing his work while simultaneously asserting their dedication to social justice
