Honey, you're not a victim
ONCE AGAIN we have a full-grown woman -- in this case, a 19-year-old from Long Island -- claiming to be the innocent victim in a high-profile extramarital affair. When are women going to learn, I found myself thinking, as I watched Diana Bianchi toss her beautiful locks and confess to one of those pushy and obsequiously empathetic TV news reporters that she had stumbled into an affair with her employer, one Peter Cook, a.k.a. Mr. Christie Brinkley.
"I didn't expect him to take it to another level," she said, with a strangled giggle. "It" being a flirtation. "Another level" being sex.
Her mother has called Cook a predator who "preyed" on her baby. The family has retained an attorney, who has said Cook "abused" Bianchi. He also has mentioned the possibility of a civil suit.
Bianchi put my teeth on edge. I am offended by her giggles -- inappropriate in the face of the pain she has caused another woman -- and offended by her victim act. "He" didn't take it to another level alone. "They" took it to another level.
Yes, of course, I am tired of and offended by the lecherous husband act as well.
Cook has no doubt deeply wounded not only his wife but his kids -- who will now have to endure the peering, leering journalists, lawyers and other salivating birds of prey who swoop in on such a heartwreck. He deserves, and will no doubt get, all manner of public and private abuse as this painful tale spins through the tabloids and the courts.
But the fact that an allegedly mature married man in his 40s should know better than a nubile young thing is simply beside the point. Yes, he should have. He had more to lose and more people to hurt.
But don't tell me that in today's world -- a virtual cornucopia of sex talk, sex images and O.C. babes -- an 18-year-old (Bianchi's age when they began the affair, and the age at which young women in fatigues are dying in Iraq) can hide behind a claim of naivete or harassment.
Yes, harassment is a serious issue -- a job-for-sex swap that is repellent and one that the courts take seriously. But it's hard to see that at play here. This is a beautiful young toy-store clerk who Cook inveigled into working in his architectural office -- eventually at a salary of $50 an hour. She had to know he had an eye for her, especially after he lavished her with gifts.
