Monday, October 16, 2017

Listen To 'Em

As the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse revelations continue to grow in number and horror, it’s important to not feel defeated. Yes, a rich, powerful man got away with sexually harassing, assaulting and – let’s be perfectly frank – raping women for decades. And as much as we can despair that this is just the way the world will always be, it is imperative that we push back against this false prophecy. No, men aren’t genetically hard-wired to objectify and abuse women. This is something they’ve been taught, something that society has ingrained in them as their right. But here’s the thing – it isn’t. And it’s up to us to make sure it isn’t. Every woman, EVERY SINGLE WOMAN, has experience with creepy men. And almost every woman has had experience with sexual harassment, abuse and assault.

So how do we stop it. Well, for one, listen to women. Listen to us when we say, “Hey, that guy is creepy.” Listen to us when we say, “That man acted inappropriately.” Listen to us when we say, “This man is a sexual predator.” Listen to us when we say, “No.” Listen to women and believe women.

And right now, and really always, one of the smartest women to listen to is Emma Thompson. I’ve always loved Emma Thompson. Always, always, always always. I howled, like literally howled, when Emma was among the esteemed artists to sign the letter of support for Roman Polanski. And then I cheered, dear heavens did I cheer, when she rethought her position and removed her name with apologies. This is one of the most clear-headed conversations on the corrosive culture of female objectification and toxic masculinity I’ve heard in a while.

Now this is not to say Emma’s is the only or the best voice to speak out about sexual abuse and harassment. In fact she acknowledges as much, saying women of color have it much harder and owning up to her own past mistakes and privilege (re: Polanski). But this, this kind of unabashed and straightforward truthfulness is what we need on an issue that for far too long has been swept under the rug as just part of business as usual. This is what happens when you put men and women in a workplace/the public/any shared space/the universe together, right? No, fuck that.

And while we’re at it, fuck Harvey Weinstein. Fuck Roman Polanski. Fuck Woody Allen. Fuck Bill O’Reilly. Fuck Bill Cosby. And fuck Donald Fucking Trump. Fuck all male predators. May women like Emma Thompson and the rest of us be the meteor racing toward all these dinosaurs spelling their imminent and total extinction.

7 comments:

Helena said...

Thank you for expressing so well my feelings. And yes how can I not love Emma Thompson :)

CarmenSanDiego said...

Thank you for this
My Facebook feed became a flood of "me too" this weekend and it was so sad to seee men commenting "what about men?"
I wanted to scream

Florence said...

Emma Thompson restores my faith in humanity. Thank god for women like her. Unfortunately I don't think more women talking about sexul harassment/assault/rape will change much. Women have been talking about this for decades and nobody listened. At the end of the day, men don't care. They're all: notallmen instead of taking a hard look at their actions. Sorry for the pessimism.

Osiris said...

I dont agree with the premise that men dont care Florence. I work in an office of mixed company and everyone was disgusted by the actions of Weinstein.

Anonymous said...

Yet Hillary ignored the Monica Lewinskys, Juanita Broderick's and Gennifer Flowers of the world when the allegations were flying.. Why ? She didn't want anyone in the way of her own power ride. Her foundation pocketed $250,000 in donations from Weinstein. Is she going to return it ? It's all a power play.

Anonymous said...

Yes, please listen to 'em. ALL of 'em.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmDyJnwTIHI

This Weinstein business is merely the tip of a very, very rotten iceberg. And yes, there are Dem rats, Rep rats... rats fucking everywhere... and everything!

Remember: Trump is pals with Jeffrey Epstein. Trump has been on the Lolita Express.

Trump is also pals with the Clintons. 'Lock her up'? Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Anonymous said...

In case your knee-jerk reaction is to immediately dismiss Cathy O'Brien as a 'nutjob conspiracy theorist', you ought to know she is FAR from the only person making these types of allegations about the elite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm-x1feeyEs

You should also know this shit is not limited to the US. It is rampant throughout the Western World. *Cough* Jimmy Savile *Cough*