Folks are acting all shocked and aghast in seeing the tidal wave of sexual misconduct/harassment/assault allegations against all of these famous men, and men in positions of authority.....As if women haven't been telling their truth forever....From the lowly supervisor at work, to the former and current President of the United States, men are being accused of all levels of sexual exploitation....You just weren't listening, or believing them, same as how a lot of them were all appalled when video started forcing them to see how racism is a continuous, non-stop issue....
See, this is the woman's experience, always has been. It isn't just a Hollywood women's experience. This is every woman's experience, in all walks of life, no matter the class bracket, no matter the skin color, no matter the religious background, no matter....
It is her normalcy, it is what she has to develop psychological blocks and coping mechanisms for, just to be able to function and maintain her sanity. It's what she sees, clear as the hand in front of her face, whereas men, seem to suffer from not having that lens built into their eyes to be able to see the problem.
And when women have the courage to come forward and speak of the trauma that they've suffered through, at the hands of their oppressors, we do all we can to dispute, distrust, and dismiss them, yet when a man comes out and speaks of the same trauma at the hands of a man, there is no hesitation in the belief of their painful experience, and no hesitation in the action taken to achieve some level of justice, on their behalf.
Maybe this is all coming out in a continuous wave, because this is something that never stops for women, in their everyday existence. Now you're being forced to see it all the time, the same way they're forced to deal with sexist patriarchy, all the time.
And stop pretending to be so shocked, that's part of the reason why this has been allowed to exist, in the first place. The only real surprise is that it took this long for it to become an issue that we have no ability to turn away from, and simply dismiss. Things have changed, and ugly truths are finally being exposed, and with that, the culprits, as well....And that needed to happen, it needs to be put out in the open, so that the women's truth and story can be truly heard and heeded to.
Things will not change, nor move forward, if we continue to put our heads up our collective, patriarchal asses and continue to subconsciously put our women a peg below us. As is the case with racism, women don't have the option to be able to ignore what is put upon them, they can't(nor should they) change who they are to avoid being abused, and they can no longer be content with our patronizing attitude, with no intent to change our behaviors that continue to perpetuate the inequitable and exploitive status quo. We need to do more than be forced to bear witness to these stories, we need to change.
I wonder if we will 'man up' to that challenge?.......
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