Terry Prone: Collective silence spared sexual aggressors like Brendan Behan

Long before MeToo made it possible to speak about sexual assault, Brendan Behan is alleged to have attempted to rape publicist Letty Cottin Pogrebin

Those who loved Brendan Behan bought the myth of him as the unwilling, unwitting victim of hangers-on who insisted on pouring alcohol into him

One of Ireland’s most loved writers tried to rape my friend. The writer was Brendan Behan. My friend is Letty Cottin Pogrebin.

Back in the 1960s, when Behan was already a major name in literature, everyone knew he had what was then called “a drinking problem”. It would be hard to miss it, given his appearances on television when he arrived on set incapable of coherence while also incapable of silence. Those who loved Behan bought the myth of him as the unwilling, unwitting victim of hangers-on who insisted on pouring alcohol into him.