The Irregular Gentlewomen are proud to announce the 1.0 release of Rated R for Rapist! This is an open-source app created to provide information about whether a movie has been made in part by people who have chosen to collaborate with or otherwise support Roman Polanski.

Collaboration, for the purposes of this project, is defined as credited in a production in which Roman Polanski is also credited. Other support can include being a signatory on a petition, making comments on the record in a public forum such as an interview or press conference, or writing an editorial.

A Vague Disclaimer Is Nobody’s Friend

We make no claim to complete accuracy in the results provided by this tool. The information used in determining if a movie has been made in part by Roman Polanski collaborators or supporters is drawn from the following sources:

• Bernard-Henri Levy
• Breitbart.com (1, 2)
• I Hate the Media
• New York Times
• PopCrunch
• SACD
• YouTube

It is possible, indeed probable, indeed certain, that there are further collaborators and supporters of Polanski’s career and decisions. (We have not gone looking for any of the many op-eds written in 2009 to include the authors thereof, for example.)

In short: Roman Polanski has been working in the film industry, American and European, for decades. He is undeniably a talented filmmaker and therefore enjoys the support of many of his fellow filmmakers. Because we live in a society which excuses, minimizes, and avoids thinking about rape, he has been able to retain that support even though he is an admitted rapist.

We are not interested in debating, discussing, or engaging with the question of whether Polanski’s life, history, and/or talent provide mitigating circumstances; this project operates on the assumptions that (a) drugging and raping a thirteen-year-old is not an excusable action, (b) to attempt to excuse such an action allies one with the rapist rather than the survivor, and (c) to choose not to support, financially or otherwise, the work of a rapist or those who support a rapist is an ethical action. Many people — including both the authors of this project — have independently made such a choice; this tool is meant only to provide information to make it easier to follow through on that choice.

These are our premises; we do not intend to defend or explain them beyond this statement.