Metoo

Many of the women I know have joined the #MeToo crusade that took over social media feeds over the weekend to denounce sexual assault and harassment.That isn’t surprising, really. Not if you’re a woman.It’s an impulse to tell the world how deep-rooted sexual harassment remains in our society. It’s an impulse to say enough and be open about it.The impromptu movement grew out of the Harvey Weinstein’s scandal exposing sexual harassment and assault against Hollywood’s elite. The producer’s downfall underscores the assault women have faced since the beginning of time, it seems.Weinstein is accused of decades-long proclivity to go after women whose careers hung in the balance of his power.Sexual harassment and assault aren't exclusive to women. But we ought to question why women are the ones overwhelmingly inundating social media feeds with #MeToo posts.The silence from men is deafening. Why? Is their silence a given that they’re the … [Read more...] about Díaz: Why is the #MeToo movement absent of men?

‘MeToo” has gone viral this week as a way to highlight sexual misconduct. The Hollywood actors who started the campaign decided they could heighten awareness of sexual harassment and sexual assault by exposing how widespread those issues are.But sexual harassment and sexual assault are very different things. Even with Harvey Weinstein’s reported abuses, most of the accounts describe uncomfortable advances that women were mostly able to reject.Conflating harassment and assault insults those who have actually been sexually assaulted. It cheapens the trauma they’ve endured.Some might label me a woman-hater (although plenty of men have shared their stories, too) for criticizing these efforts, or uncaring or clueless.But I was a victim of repeated sexual assault as a 4-year-old. I’m someone who should feel empowered by the recent wave of attention. Instead, it feels empty.Harassment involves words and innuendo. It’s uncomfortable and unfair, and can … [Read more...] about Buss: ‘MeToo’ cheapens assault

It was 1987, I was a freshman at Harvard College, and I’d just published my first poem in a feminist magazine called The Rag. The magazine was distributed one morning across the campus, and I was thrilled to see my name in print for the first time. I got back to my dorm late that evening, and there was a voicemail waiting for me.Thirty years later, I no longer remember the exact content of the message, but the feelings still remain about what I heard — a male voice, probably drunk, mumbling vile sexist put-downs and epithets about the type of women (“dykes” of course) who write for a feminist magazine.  It was a shocking and wrenching experience and left me feeling exposed and vulnerable, as though I’d been specifically chosen for this harassment. I found out quickly that ALL the women who wrote for the magazine had received similar harassing phone calls from the same man. RELATED: Amazon Studios head Roy Price steps down amid … [Read more...] about Holbrook: The incredible power of #MeToo

“#MeToo.”Women all over social media have been posting these two words in light of the growing number of men embroiled in sexual misconduct scandals. For years men have gotten away with bad behavior in a culture that too often dismisses such dalliances and abuses with the old “boys will be boys” mythology, assuming women who get themselves in these fixes “asked for it.”To disprove this kind of sexist reasoning and encourage women to speak up despite the cost, a call to arms has been issued to show just how prevalent sexual harassment is. Women and girls are keeping these secrets way too long to avoid condemnation and embarrassment.Sometimes the post is simply two words, “#MeToo,” letting others know they, too, were victims of sexual harassment. They don’t explain where or when or how.Sometime they offer basic details. A few examples from my Facebook feed:“It was by my math teacher who put his hands up my skirt and … [Read more...] about Women break silence on sexual harassment with #MeToo

Last week, social media feeds around the country were filled with the #MeToo hashtag — as millions of men and women told stories of how they had survived sexual abuse, harassment or domestic violence. It was a sobering reminder of how common these traumas are. I was fortunate, during that same week I witnessed first-hand part of the response to that trauma — an overflow crowd of health care providers and other community agencies meeting in Kentucky at a WellCare-sponsored conference on better serving trauma survivors. If that event had a hashtag, it would have been #WeCare.  Most of us know that if someone is in a bad accident, they may be scared to drive. And soldiers who experienced battleground trauma may be anxious during fireworks celebrations. But have you thought about the anxiety a rape victim may feel even years later, sitting alone, in a paper gown, in an exam room — or during the exam itself.“Trauma Informed Care” is the term that we … [Read more...] about #MeToo raises questions of ‘what now?’ | Starr

Me, too, of course. I tried to recall the first time it happened to me, and questioned whether an incident when I was 7 should count. More: Readers sound off: Men need to recognize, speak out against sexual harassment More: Harvey Weinstein can't wash away Hollywood's sins: Glenn Reynolds Is it sexual harassment when the nuns at your Catholic school tell you to take off your pants because you broke the dress code? Is it sexual harassment to be told you'd have to parade around in your underwear for the rest of the school day because you picked the wrong pants that morning?Maybe. Probably. (I refused, by the way. Even at age 7, I knew something about that was very, very wrong.) Somehow, despite fears of eternal damnation, I made it clear that my pants would stay on.And then, when I was 12, something worse happened.I was with friends — twin sisters — doing a community service project for the Civil Air Patrol. My father dropped … [Read more...] about #MeToo sexual harassment and assault tales are painful for me, not empowering