Why Charlie Sheen matters (sort of) even though he is a distraction

I don't know if anyone posted this. Didn't see it. The OpEd details his long history of abusing women and contrasts the response to his history with the response to men like Chris Brown- men who aren't white.

The name of the piece is The Disposable Woman.

The Disposable Woman
By ANNA HOLMES
Published: March 3, 2011

FORTY-THREE minutes into his “special live edition” with Charlie Sheen on Monday night, Piers Morgan finally got around to asking his guest a real question. Before that, Mr. Morgan and Mr. Sheen had mostly traded chuckles and anecdotes about multiday benders, inflated network salaries and meet-ups in Aspen, Colo. But then, after three commercial breaks, Mr. Morgan inquired, “Have you ever hit a woman?”


Two minutes later, with Mr. Morgan apparently satisfied with the actor’s answer that no, women should be “hugged and caressed,” that line of questioning was over.

<snip>

Our inertia is not for lack of evidence. In 1990, he accidentally shot his fiancée at the time, the actress Kelly Preston, in the arm. (The engagement ended soon after.) In 1994 he was sued by a college student who alleged that he struck her in the head after she declined to have sex with him. (The case was settled out of court.) Two years later, a sex film actress, Brittany Ashland, said she had been thrown to the floor of Mr. Sheen’s Los Angeles house during a fight. (He pleaded no contest and paid a fine.)

In 2006, his wife at the time, the actress Denise Richards, filed a restraining order against him, saying Mr. Sheen had shoved and threatened to kill her. In December 2009, Mr. Sheen’s third wife, Brooke Mueller, a real-estate executive, called 911 after Mr. Sheen held a knife to her throat. (He pleaded guilty and was placed on probation.) Last October, another actress in sex films, Capri Anderson, locked herself in a Plaza Hotel bathroom after Mr. Sheen went on a rampage. (Ms. Anderson filed a criminal complaint but no arrest was made.) And on Tuesday, Ms. Mueller requested a temporary restraining order against her former husband, alleging that he had threatened to cut her head off, “put it in a box and send it to your mom.” (The order was granted, and the couple’s twin sons were quickly removed from his home.) “Lies,” Mr. Sheen told People magazine.

<snip>

read the rest of this excellent piece here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/opinion/04holmes.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=charlie%20sheen&st=cse&scp=8

that through all of this Sheen nonsense - people I know (mostly men) find him hilarious, almost idolizing him, while completely forgetting how disgusting and criminal this man has been towards women. The media talks of his abuse of women frequently, but people seem to just not hear it.

women but all of a sudden he got fired for talking back to his boss.

I hope he gets the help he needs, but feel just as strongly that they had better protect his kids from him at this point. What a nightmare this guy is.

and see if he'd still be out and about and not have a lengthy jail/prison record.

that's also a difference

Finally, someone is bringing this forward.

..but I had no idea about this laundry list of abuse. holy shit.

brings into focus.