Rebecca Solnit, reflecting on the stories of Weinstein’s abuses and other recent acts of terror, writes in The Guardian:

“It’s the authoritarianism of violence that seems too often overlooked…It’s time to talk about the fact that many men seem erotically excited by their ability to punish, humiliate, inflict pain on women — the subject of a lot of porn.”

Solnit connects this to the work of the recently deceased Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, whose career served to “perpetuate women’s subordination.” The solution for this spreading violence, according to Solnit, lies in “how we raise boys, in what we define as erotic, in how men can discourage each other from the idea that dominating and harming women enhances their status.” Of course Hefner isn’t just linked to the misogyny which informs mainstream pornography, he’s also inseparable from James Bond (to whom he often compared himself) and Hollywood at-large.

For so long, to reach the pinnacle of cinematic masculinity one has had to project the same qualities which led Hefner to designate Thursdays at the Playboy Mansion “James Bond Night.” Some of those qualities — power over others, use of force, whiteness — are why a 2010 review of The American also describes George Clooney as embodying the “suave, charismatic style” of 007. But the ideal of dominance in Hollywood doesn’t just require men to tower over women, to perform violence, or to take up space — it also encourages them to build mansions where other men will “defend” that power at all costs.

In Good Will Hunting, Ben and Casey Affleck’s characters celebrate this kind of deeply loyal bond with Damon’s Will Hunting. Weinstein of course backed that film, which won Oscars for the writers and launched the careers of all three, but ever since they landed on the national radar, the trio have also been seen by the media in a similar way — Boston brothers, inseparable. Which is perhaps why, regardless of what they knew about Weinstein, Ben and Matt also had little to say about the public accusations of sexual harassment against Casey throughout his Oscar-winning campaign last year. They certainly didn’t take that opportunity to start an industry-wide campaign against misogyny in Hollywood either.

In maintaining these exclusive clubs, these men and their films recreate and promote the gender norms which boys learn early on. What sociologists Judy Chu and Carol Gilligan describe as “Mean Teams” of masculinity, predicated on peer pressure. This culture, as it manifests in the adult world, is not just one of silence around abuse, but one which coddles abusers, and amplifies the dominant, all-powerful position of men in society. It’s why Roman Polanksi, who raped a 13-year-old and has been accused of more, is an Oscar-winning director with whom many leading men continue to work. Or why Woody Allen, Hefner’s favorite director, has also been deemed Oscar-worthy after being accused of sexual assault by his own daughter. This fear of disturbing the universe leads us to a place where guys like Hitchcock and countless others remain openly in the esteem of the mainstream film community.

Staying quiet about the violence of men around you, especially for straight white cisgender men, is profitable. It’s good for your career. But, at the same time, most men have also internalized the “guy code,” that pernicious idea, supported by the movies, that men keep each other’s secrets, that bros come before hos. That you never talk about fight club. And as a result, stepping out of line risks being perceived as unmanly, as feminine.

The victims of this code don’t just include women — as Terry Crews and others in Hollywood have proven this week — and the perpetrators can be people of all genders. Yet until A-list white men, along with those who write about film in the mainstream, are willing to challenge the white supremacist hyper-masculine obsession with control under which Hollywood film is submerged, then the industry won’t change anytime soon.

As long as dominance is the celebrated standard of manhood, violence will be an elevated tool for expressing it. So it’s not enough to eliminate one white man from the Academy. It’s not enough for men to condemn that single white man in a tweet, or to do a few interviews on TV.

The question is what conversations will men lead on film sets this week? In meetings at studios, with other men who are producers, directors, and actors? Will they commit to listening to women more, especially women of color? Will they give up some money? Will they join the work of creating new cultural standards?

Do men in power have the courage to be vulnerable like all those who have come forward with stories of abuse? To dismantle the clubs and transform how they portray themselves to other men? Or will they choose to retreat once more into the cacophony of the status quo, their own dominance safely intact? As long as they take the latter route, some men in the industry will continue to find it easy to lean on, exploit, and hide behind the codes of a patriarchal cinema which will continue to flourish.