‘Married to the Mob’ designer Leah McSweeney has penned a detailed opinion piece on the death of chef Anthony Bourdain, where she takes aim at the #MeToo movement and its figureheads Rose McGowan and Asia Argento in what she labels ‘Toxic Femininity.’
Content warning: This article discusses sexual assault, depression, suicide, rape and other difficult topics.
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In the heated op-ed piece published on Penthouse, McSweeney made a number of allegations around the relationship between Anthony Bourdain and Asia Argento, which was allegedly an open relationship, suggesting Argento’s involvement with a journalist to be the cause of Bourdain’s suicide.
“Men don’t deal with humiliation the same way women do. Men sometimes murder their lovers over humiliation. They also kill themselves over feeling humiliated.”
McSweeney goes on to assert that the sexual assault and rape alleged to have taken place by Harvey Weinstein against Argento possibly didn’t take place.
“Calling this ‘rape’ is doing our society, including sexual-assault survivors, a disservice on so many levels.” McSweeney is addressing Weinstein “forcibly performing oral sex” on Argento and Rose McGowan.
“I was raped when I was 15 years old. I know a lot of women will accuse me of victim-blaming, but at some point we have to remove the impenetrable shield that one receives when she is considered a victim,” McSweeney writes.
“Argento went on to have a consensual relationship with Weinstein for several years. The New Yorker article is what thrust the Italian actress into America’s cultural conversation. Before this, the American media knew little about her.”
McSweeney is a mother and fashion designer, a native of New York City. She is the CEO of fashion label ‘Married to the Mob’ which makes t-shirts and hats emblazoned with logos like ‘MOST OFFICIAL BITCHES’ and ‘I WANNA MOB WITH THE MOST OFFICIAL BITCHES’ and ‘SUPREME BITCH’.
Penthouse is currently run by CEO Kelly Holland, who in her takeover in 2016 said she was committed to not featuring any content that was misogynistic.
McSweeney begins her op-ed by stating, “I need to get this shit out of my system.”
