Posted on 01/06/2018 8:11:04 AM PST by Trump20162020
You can be sure that this weekend at the Golden Globes, Hollywood celebrities, not exactly known for their independent thinking, will turn the red carpet into a #MeToo moment replete with designer duds. Many have promised to wear black dresses to protest the stream of allegations against industry moguls and actors. Perhaps Meryl Streep will get grilled — again — about what she knew about Harvey Weinstein.
But privately, I suspect, many of us, including many longstanding feminists, will be rolling our eyes, having had it with the reflexive and unnuanced sense of outrage that has accompanied this cause from its inception, turning a bona fide moment of moral accountability into a series of ad hoc and sometimes unproven accusations.
For many weeks now, the conversation that has been going on in private about this reckoning is radically different from the public one. This is not a good sign, suggesting the sort of social intimidation that is the underside of a culture of political correctness, such as we are increasingly living in. The women I know — of all ages — have responded by and large with a mixture of slightly horrified excitement (bordering on titillation) as to who will be the next man accused and overt disbelief.
Publicly, they say the right things, expressing approval and joining in the chorus of voices that applaud the takedown of maleficent characters who prey on vulnerable women in the workplace.
In private it’s a different story. “Grow up, this is real life,” I hear these same feminist friends say. “What ever happened to flirting?” and “What about the women who are the predators?” Some women, including random people I talk to in supermarket lines, have gone so far as to call it an outright witch hunt.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I heartily applaud the downfall of America hating Hollywood bigwigs, but make no mistake:
the real casualty in all this will be romance. Many more workplaces will take on all the cheer and spontaneity of the DMV.
Even average men with little to lose will be afraid to hit on women.
Finally, someone having the courage to say publicly what so many people have been saying privately all along!
Yes, there are awful, disgusting people with power and influence who have preyed upon the weak in horrible degrading fashion...and they deserve every bit of condemnation, as well as serious legal consequences for their behavior!
But, every woman who has had a compliment paid to her which she found distasteful has NOT been victimized and it’s an insult to real victims to pretend otherwise!
Furthermore, ANYONE who defended Bill Clinton and/or supported Hillary for President has ZERO credibility!
So now we’re getting blow-back as women figure out that their ‘empowerment’ means no more men asking them out, and on top of that, they’ll soon realize that sex dolls will pretty much seal the deal.
So maybe it’s a good time to invest in cat futures...at least they’ll keep those women company.
Hysteria discredits any cause. Nothing has reached this level of hysteria since blacklisting, which is now making a comeback.
Worse than that, no physical contact of any kind, no comments or complements on appearance, never meet alone with a woman, no discussion about anything not directly job related, etc. The workplace will be sterile, indeed.
Perhaps even more troubling is that we seem to be returning to a victimology paradigm for young women, in particular, in which they are perceived to be — and perceive themselves to be — as frail as Victorian housewives. [...]
What happened to women’s agency? That’s what I find myself wondering as I hear story after story of adult women who helplessly acquiesce to sexual demands. I find it especially curious given that a majority of women I know have been in situations in which men have come on to them — at work or otherwise. They have routinely said, “I’m not interested” or “Get your hands off me right now.” And they’ve taken the risk that comes with it.
Finally, someone having the courage to say publicly what so many people have been saying privately all along!
....
Most astounding part is that this appeared in the NYT.
Disagree. Yours is the argument of good guys who are scared they can’t be men and flirt or joke nicely and politely. You’re throwing out the baby with the bath water.
Women don’t mind and can handle 1) flirting 2)being asked out 3) hearing racy but not crude jokes at work. We are big girls.
It is not fair for women in helpless, inferior, or trapped positions to be told they must drop to their knees for the boss or lose their jobs. There is a huge difference between sexual assault by coercion and flirting. It is frustrating to hear your complaint.
Think of the waitress with theee young kids and dad gone, who can’t afford to lose her job. She’s economically trapped. It’s not ok that she should be forced to watch the manager masturbate. This is a serious widespread issue, and it isn’t at all about harmless flirting.
Translation/Summation: This is hurting the Democrats more than the Republicans, so we need to knock it off.
If it actually occurred they went along with it because their bank account and careers benefitted.
No sympathy.
In your waitress example, she can get another waitress job elsewhere. The pendulum has swung too far in the direction where any woman can ruin any man by just making an accusation of "being made uncomfortable".
I've decided it's too risky to even have female friends at work. I will NOT allow myself to be alone with any of them. Sorry.
Not being alone with women in lesser status at work is smart.
I just wanted to say that normal women enjoy the differences between men and women and can be perfectly ok with friendly platonic flirting. What isn’t normal and what we object to every time, is groping, threatening, or taking out your penis at the office.
“Hysteria discredits any cause.”
Let’s hope it does, in this case. It’s bad enough having the legal system rigged against men, if we get to the point where men unsupported accusations outside of the legal system ruin the lives of men, then our society is DOOMED.
I went shopping today and saw several mixed couples - white guy / Asian chick each time. White men are reacting, and there are a LOT of Asian women in the world to choose from.
“I’ve decided it’s too risky to even have female friends at work. I will NOT allow myself to be alone with any of them.”
Something tells me you’re not the only one...to say the least. I think what women in the workplace are now figuring out is that if men are going to treat them like they’re government workers - in other words see as little of them as possible, say as little to them as possible, and basically just don’t bother with them. With that happening, no more cocktail parties, lunches etc...it’s going to get VERY HARD for women to penetrate the so-called ‘glass-ceiling’ - and that’s why they’re trying to dial things down a bit.
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