WHERE THE BOYS ARE:

The evidence is there, just as it was in the cases of Bill Cosby or Harvey Weinstein. In 2011, former child star Corey Feldman warned that pedophilia in Hollywood was "the big secret" and "the number one problem." Feldman alleged that he was abused and that his friend was raped on a movie set at the age of 11. But he didn't just talk about instances of abuse. In a later interview, he described a system whereby young children were groomed by powerful older men who formed an organized network, with "publicists" providing cover. He would "love to name names," but feared the legal risks, he said.

Precisely such an organized system for grooming and abusing children is described by a documentary; one molester described in the film pleaded no contest to two counts of child molestation, but the rest of the network has never been named, let alone investigated or charged. The title of the documentary? An Open Secret.

Former child star Elijah Wood made global headlines after saying in an interview last year that there was "something major" in Hollywood. "It was all organized," he said. "There are a lot of vipers in this industry, people who only have their own interests in mind. There is darkness in the underbelly," adding that Hollywood can "squash" the victims so that they "can't speak as loudly as the people in power." (He later issued a carefully worded clarification that he had no "firsthand experience or observation," which still leaves room for being aware of an open secret.)

These stories fit a pattern, and not just the pattern common to all sex crimes allegations -- the shame, the gas-lighting, the fear you won't be believed -- but also the pattern common to testimonies about a systemic problem: the coordination, the law of silence, the coverups.

And just as striking as these allegations is the deafening silence that surrounds them.

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