Ever ask yourself why people have “overlooked” the sexual misconduct of powerful men?
Has it been out of respect for their positions, admiration for all they own, a hope someday to acquire similar power and wealth?
No. It has been out of conditioned abject fear. Like it or not, human beings have historically positioned men as the provider, the stronger, the smarter, the head of the household, the business leader. To go against a man, to disagree with him or refuse to succumb to his physical desires, was a woman’s downfall.
The “casting couch” has been referred to since the movie industry was born. Before that it may have been, “Do you want to keep this job? Do what you’re told or you’re out on the street!” or something else to convey the belief that without a man, women are without merit, and thus to reinforce their obedience.
When abuse or sexual misconduct occurred, it was laughed off or just dismissed as, “You know how men are.” These actions were not looked upon as criminal, and everyone ignored them as just part of life, part of the way things were.
Today, even women in positions of power have become abusers of their power. Personally, I believe that people have become numb to abuses enacted upon others. It’s almost as though it is expected, accepted for the powerful to do whatever they want, without consequences.
Though there will still be instances of employees’ being told, “Do it, or you’re fired,” Harvey Weinstein* is turning into the wake-up call this nation needed. I can only hope that this whole stinking mess will put the fear of repercussions into the minds of most of those who think they can get away with abusing others.
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| Copyright © 2017 by Sharon Stoner |
I like to think that the “wake-up call” was heard a bit earlier, after the Access Hollywood tape came out with Trump bragging that “when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything...Grab them by the p****. You can do anything,” and then going on to be elected President!
ReplyDeleteIt may have been a victory for benighted white men, but now the sun has come out, and our ambassador to the United Nations, a Republican woman, has called for a Congressional investigation into Trump’s predatory behavior. Go, Nikki! Go, Penelope! Go, Sharon! Go, Femmes!
I didn't hear her say it that way. Only that, " women have a right to be heard." Nothing about an investigation. You give her too much credit.
DeleteAh, right. I guess, besides being a bit wishful, I may have conflated Ambassador Haley’s and Senator Gillibrand’s responses. See first paragraph in this excerpt from “What Nikki Haley can do about Trump harassment accusations”:
DeleteAnd on Monday, it was Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand who was the one to follow Haley's assertions to their logical conclusion: She called on Trump to resign. In an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Gillibrand said, "These allegations are credible; they are numerous. I've heard these women's testimony, and many of them are heartbreaking."
But it's not just his own conduct -- including the 2005 "Access Hollywood" tape in which Trump brags about sexually assaulting women.
The President also has a history of supporting men who have been accused of sexual misconduct. President Trump is currently endorsing Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, who is facing many allegations that he harassed and abused young women, which he denies.
The President claims he needs a Republican in the Senate seat. But he could have tried to get a Republican elected while disavowing sexual abuse by encouraging Alabamans to write a different Republican in on their ballots. Instead, he's directed people to "get out and vote for Roy Moore," the man accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl and sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl.
Gail Collins, op-ed writer for the NY Times, agrees with me that the “wake-up call” was Trump’s sexual predation: “Donald Trump’s Gift to Women.” Excerpt:
DeleteWe have a revolt against sexual harassment that’s running through the political, entertainment, restaurant and communications worlds. And we’re finally trying to focus on the Donald Trump sleaziness sagas that the nation didn’t deal with in 2016. Trump is really behind everything — his election jarred and frightened women so much that there was nothing to do but rebel and try to change the world.
“I think it’s very much because of President Trump,” said Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. “For me the Women’s March was still the most extraordinary political moment of my lifetime.” Gillibrand is a leader of the antiharassment campaign in Congress. This week, as some of the women who had stories about Trump’s own hands-on history were talking to the media, she called on the president to resign.
Trump responded — as only he can — with a Twitter attack, calling Gillibrand a political “lightweight” who used to come to him “begging” for campaign contributions, “and would do anything for them.”
“I think it was intended to be a sexist smear, and it was intended to silence me and every woman who challenges him,” Gillibrand said in a phone interview.
The White House retorted that only a person whose mind was “in the gutter” would think the president was talking about anything but the way political fund-raising means “special interests control our government.”
What do you think, people? Perhaps we could just do a calculation on how much time Trump has spent in his public life discussing girl-grabbing versus campaign finance reform.
Case in point, from The NY Times: “Trump Sexual Misconduct Accusations Repeated by Several Women.” Excerpt:
ReplyDelete“Several women who came forward during the 2016 campaign to accuse Donald J. Trump of sexual misconduct renewed their allegations publicly on Monday, betting that recently aggressive attitudes against harassment will give their stories new life and demanding that Congress investigate the president’s actions.
“The women said they hoped to be taken more seriously after a torrent of allegations that have toppled the careers of men in media, business and politics.” [Read more.]
From the INDY Primer: “Meanwhile, Democrats have been trying to press the issue. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a potential 2020 contender, called on Trump to resign: “These allegations are credible. They are numerous. I’ve heard these women’s testimony and many of them are heartbreaking. President Trump should resign his position.” Fifty-four Democratic congresswomen have demanded a congressional investigation into the women’s charges.”
ReplyDeleteMust-read: NY Times article “Harvey Weinstein Is My Monster Too,” with tag, “Salma Hayek writes in an Op-Ed that Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed her repeatedly: ‘I don’t think he hated anything more than the word no’.” Excerpt:
ReplyDeleteHARVEY WEINSTEIN WAS a passionate cinephile, a risk taker, a patron of talent in film, a loving father and a monster.
For years, he was my monster.
This fall, I was approached by reporters, through different sources, including my dear friend Ashley Judd, to speak about an episode in my life that, although painful, I thought I had made peace with.
I had brainwashed myself into thinking that it was over and that I had survived; I hid from the responsibility to speak out with the excuse that enough people were already involved in shining a light on my monster. I didn’t consider my voice important, nor did I think it would make a difference.
More from Ms. Hayek’s article:
DeleteIn reality, I was trying to save myself the challenge of explaining several things to my loved ones: Why, when I had casually mentioned that I had been bullied like many others by Harvey, I had excluded a couple of details. And why, for so many years, we have been cordial to a man who hurt me so deeply. I had been proud of my capacity for forgiveness, but the mere fact that I was ashamed to describe the details of what I had forgiven made me wonder if that chapter of my life had really been resolved.
When so many women came forward to describe what Harvey had done to them, I had to confront my cowardice and humbly accept that my story, as important as it was to me, was nothing but a drop in an ocean of sorrow and confusion. I felt that by now nobody would care about my pain — maybe this was an effect of the many times I was told, especially by Harvey, that I was nobody.
We are finally becoming conscious of a vice that has been socially accepted and has insulted and humiliated millions of girls like me, for in every woman there is a girl. I am inspired by those who had the courage to speak out, especially in a society that elected a president who has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than a dozen women and whom we have all heard make a statement about how a man in power can do anything he wants to women.
Another one from the NY Times: “Donald Trump Did It.” Excerpt:
ReplyDeleteThe term “sexual harassment,” used here in a social sense, not a legal one, refers to a spectrum of behaviors from unwanted sexual advances to belittling, intimidating or uncomfortable sexual comments. In other words, a spectrum of behaviors that Donald Trump engages in all the time. Barging into the dressing rooms of Miss Teen USA in order to see teenage girls naked (“I sort of get away with things like that,” Trump once told Howard Stern); calling Caitríona Perry, a reporter from Ireland, up to his desk to tell her she has a “nice smile”; once speculating, while seated next to his daughter, Ivanka, that if he weren’t her father, “perhaps I’d be dating her”; instructing a female “Apprentice” contestant to stand and twirl so the male contestants could rate her body; implying, as he did on Twitter Tuesday morning, that his professional colleague Senator Kirsten Gillibrand offered him sexual favors for political donations; bragging about forcibly kissing women and grabbing their genitals — I don’t have to keep listing them, do I? Trump’s own interviews, memoirs, news conferences and Twitter feed evince a pattern of sexual degradation, objectification and assault stretching back decades.
Not only does Trump not try to hide these behaviors from the public, he brags and laughs about them. They are, to a certain set of Americans, what makes Trump a real man. Mitch McConnell reassured the public this week that if Roy Moore won the Alabama special election (R.I.P.), he would have been subject to an ethics investigation. How comforting for the teenage girls of America to know that their government is happy to elect the child rapist first and ask questions later, as long as he’s openly nostalgic for slavery.
We need investigations. But we already know the truth about what our president thinks about women.
So sorry about the broken links, whose cause is a mystery to me. I should have shown the URLs, so you could copy and paste them into a web browser. For now, here are two of the URLs affected:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2017/12/11/opinions/what-nikki-haley-can-do-about-trump-harassment-accusations-alaimo/index.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/11/us/politics/trump-accused-sexual-misconduct.html”
And here’s the URL for Salma Hayek’s article about her grief on account of Harvey Weinstein.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/13/opinion/contributors/salma-hayek-harvey-weinstein.html
How Ms. Hayek can be so objective and complimentary at the same time she is strongly indicting the man is a model of moral strength and rectitude. I already admired her immensely; now I am in awe of her.
I had avoided reading about Weinstein for roughly the same reason I avoid the National Inquirer. This piece finally persuaded me to read the two NYT articles. I learned, first, that Weinstein is a serial rapist on an extraordinary scale. The men who are losing their careers for sexual harassment lately are for the most part petty criminals by comparison. Second, this isn't only about sex. Weinstein is a moral monster on many levels. Even Trump appears to be relatively innocent by comparison.
ReplyDeleteChuck, thanks for bluntly putting this into perspective. Weinstein a moral monster (with lots and lots of enablers). I’m not sure, though, that “petty criminal” for relatively lesser offenders isn’t too lenient, too condoning, too overlooking.
ReplyDelete