9/20/19- An update on #MeToo from Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, the New York Times reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein story. They share behind-the-scenes details of how they urged survivors to speak out, the institutions and individuals that protect abusers, and some points of hope.
“This company is shamelessly trying to take financial advantage of the ‘Me Too’ movement by luring victims into thinking that an at-home-do-it-yourself sexual assault kit will stand up in court,”
“Moving as it can be to watch men move past the things they’ve done, it usually feels redemptive because we don’t have to see the people they did things to.”
In general, Dewey himself did not deny his actions—only their impropriety. “I have been very unconventional … as men [are] always who frankly show and speak of their liking for women,” he wrote. But, he insisted, it was not his fault if the targets of his “unconventional” actions took offense: “Pure women would understand my ways.”
It’s hard to escape the idea that we collectively “owe” some public figures assumptions of good faith, redemption, and the belief that their heartfelt apologies are not just atonement but absolution. For others, meanwhile, there is no mercy, and race often plays a role here as well. Look at how Chris Brown became reviled long before #MeToo while Johnny Depp still lands leading roles and receives ardent defenses from J.K. Rowling and Benicio del Toro. Arguably, this unwillingness to address abusive behavior on equal footing is what landed us here in the first place; it’s why white men continue to thrive even as their victims cry out for justice and why being held accountable feels “disproportionate” to some viewers.
... Letterman may think he deserves points for raising a difficult topic. Instead, he gets points for offering a perfect illustration of what women and people of color are up against. If in the previous three decades, Letterman had hired greater numbers of diverse writers, he would have transformed the comedy world. He chose not to, and that’s part of his legacy. ...
Just started watching ‘Good Girls Revolt’ so I’m a little behind on my anger of it being cancelled.
Though I will say I’m not surprised that the guy who cancelled it turned out to be a creep who sexually assaulted women.
The notion of affirmative consent did not fall from space in October 2017 to confound well-meaning but bumbling men; it was built, loudly and painstakingly and in public, at great personal cost to its proponents, over decades. If you’re fretting about the perceived overreach of #MeToo, maybe start by examining the ways you’ve upheld the stigmatization of feminism. Nuanced conversations about consent and gendered socialization have been happening every single day that Aziz Ansari has spent as a living, sentient human on this earth. The reason they feel foreign to so many men is that so many men never felt like they needed to listen. Rape is a women’s issue, right? Men don’t major in women’s studies.
...You get to decide that now. You get to hear about the way in which women have been harmed by men and decide to be a better man. You get to defend that notion of a man. You get to debate for this change. You get to fervently argue that you will no longer accept this old, abusive notion of manhood. You get to choose a better path.Or you can keep arguing to uphold the way things are.But know that with whichever way you decide, you are telling us, and yourself, what type of man you want to be...
