I just learned about the Morgan Freeman thing from Tess. It's horrifying because this is the first time multiple #metoo accusations have hit someone I really respected. While I generally hold Hollywood in contempt, here are several male actors in Hollywood I'd really respected as people. Off the top of my head: Freeman, George Takei, Will Arnett, Neil Patrick Harris, Ted Danson, Jack McBrayer, Alan Tudyk, Chris Parnell, and Wil Wheaton. When the accusations against Takei came out, it was one case that I took as an error in judgment, and his accuser has now changed his story. However now that I see what Freeman's capable of, I wonder how many of the rest are crytocreeps as well.
On another note, there's plenty in the accusations against Freeman that goes beyond back rubbing, but the back rubbing thing is interesting to me, because of my own experiences.
See, in middle and high school at least four different female staff members would rub my back, shoulders, and arms to calm me down. Not a full on massage, but sort of up-and-down with fingernails. At the time I remember thinking two things: "this feels good" and "I'm pretty sure that there's a school policy against touching students." Obviously I didn't complain because I enjoyed it and it did calm me down. It's interesting though that I never had a male staff member try that, I presume at least in part because if I had complained the repercussions would be far more severe for a male staff member than for a female staff member.
I liked having people rub my back and it didn't feel sexual in the context of "I'm upset and someone's trying to calm me down." I don't think I'd have taken it as sexual if someone had used their actual hands rather than just fingernails either. And I think it's unfortunate that back rubbing is so commonly associated with sexual advances. Still, I sort of wonder in hindsight why these women didn't ask if they could rub my back, particularly because I'm autistic, and autistic people are often really weird about people touching them.