The subject of Rudolph Valentino being abused as a child of fifteen by the women being abused in the Taranto brothels has been bandied back and forth. But at what age is a person an adult? Legally that varies in the U.S., from state to state... and many laws allow a fifteen year old to marry. In Maryland, Kansas and Hawaii you can marry at fifteen. Twenty-one other states set the age at sixteen.
I think the subject of Valentino's syphilis is a moral one and will depend on the person's own moral stand. I do not judge a fifteen-year-old Valentino for frequenting the brothels but find the subject of the abuse of him interesting.
The abuse inflicted on Valentino from the brothels was that he contracted an incurable disease which in a perfect world would never have been shared with anyone. How reputable was the health care of those abused women then?
But despite the question of this abuse of Valentino... absolutely nothing compares in my opinion to the abuse of Valentino today by his brother's family. As overlords of his public presence, they not only remain silent in the face of a completely false rewriting of their iconic ancestor's life story, they affiliate with the perpetrators.
The abuse of Valentino's truth is sickening. A teenage Rudolph being seduced by a brothel lady is nothing at all as far as abuse is concerned in comparison to what is happening to him now. Some people might say it does not matter, who cares? Well, I do.
Because its a moral question and I find what is going on wrong.
Imagine a day way back then when a fifteen-year old Valentino was walking into a Taranto brothel. Outside the brothel there is a small crowd of baying villagers yelling, “No, Rudolph, you're gay!”... you get my point. I see those who deny Valentino's true history as baying villagers tormenting him with their lies and greedy motivations.
Abused by prostitutes? I don't think so, the abuse of Valentino is happening right now and I guess anyone reading this blog can fill in the blanks as to who those torch wielding villagers are.
