Men, we have failed.
In the wake of Harvey Weinstein many women are speaking out and standing up for their sisters. People are acknowledging the widespread ubiquity of sexual abuse within the movie industry and beyond. It’s empowering and inspiring to see this dialog emerge. Women are demonstrating immense power, strength, and courage.
Though, I am ashamed of my fellow men.
I recognize that traditional gender roles are falling out of fashion and women continue to be more and more empowered each day. This is a good thing. Each time a woman speaks out against this injustice and affirms her right to stand up for herself, countless women and girls are inspired to do so themselves.
Though, I can’t help but wonder, where are the men in all this?
The fact that women have to step up to speak out on this matter is a stark expression of our failure as men.
Of course there are the sick, lewd men such as Harvey himself as well as the other men who engaged in such action. Though these are not the people I’m referring too. These people are a dysfunctional minority who are beyond the reach of reason, decency, and dignity. They are outliers and hardly can even be considered men.
The majority of the male gender do not engage in such atrocious exploitation of women. They respect their mothers, sisters, and care about the value of consent. Most men have respect for women and honor their sovereignty.
But this begs the question: Where the hell are they??
I’ll tell you where they are: everywhere. For every woman who is sexually harassed by a putrid stain on human dignity—there is a honest, capable man standing by passively with his thumb up his ass.
These men find such behavior utterly disgusting, but rather than stand up and defend justice, human dignity, and the sanctity of womanhood they turn the other way. They ignore the situation. They laugh uncomfortably at their friends disgusting comments. They pretend they didn’t see it.
And their testicles shrink back up into their bodies and something deep within them dies. This is when an otherwise capable man demonstrates himself to be an utter coward, responsible for the moral degradation of society and the desecration of our most sacred women.
It has been said that all that is needed for evil to prosper is for good men to do nothing.
The Harveys of the world are sick, twisted beasts who cannot be expected of greatness. It is we, on the other hand, who can make the difference.
There are countless men out there who are conscious, sensitive, thoughtful. And yet they—we—do nothing.
This egregious absence of honorable action on the part of men has me reeling.
Where are we men? What have we been doing? Do we intend to continue to sit on the sidelines and allow our sisters to suffer abuse and struggle alone? What are we waiting for?!
It is our duty to protect our sisters, political correctness be damned. As women become more assertive and men become more sensitive our culture and society is enriched. Though it seems in all this growth our men have lost our spines.
We are men! We are here to protect, serve, and cherish our women! It is not becoming of us to cowardly leave injustice unchallenged allowing our women to fight on their own. It is disgraceful.
I get it, I get it. Women’s empowerment and all that. We live in an age of gender inequality where more traditional displays of manhood are often met with contempt. Women are strong, independent, and don’t need no man. Hold a door open for a women, and you may even be met with scorn.
So what?
Have we forgotten our very spine?! Have we allowed this culture of political correctness strip us of every last shred of dignity that defines who we are?
Maybe people won’t appreciate you. Maybe people will be offended if you step in and take a stand.
Do it anyway.
Stand in the way of injustice
Call out all bad men
Protect all our women
Defend all you can
It is unacceptable to allow injustice to proceed unchecked simply because it may not be appreciated with a hug or a pat on the back.
A true man does not act because he will be praised.
Rather, a man acts on what he knows in his heart is right.
So
What are we waiting for?
It wasn't that long ago that men killed and went to war against other men for violating their wives, sisters, mothers, or any other family member or close one. History is replete with stories of the chivalrous man coming to the aide and defense of a woman.
Frankly, I don't think you can lay the blame entirely on men. Most men I know would take action if someone close to them were sexually assaulted, sometimes action that would land them in jail. If my wife or my daughter, or my granddaughter came to me about something like that there is no way I could let it go. The perpetrator would regret the day he laid a hand on them. I am mystified that the man, or men, who are related to or very close to these women would not take action. You have to wonder what kind of men they are, or you have to wonder if they knew it happened at all.
I agree with you in large part. Though standing up for one's wives, sisters, mothers when they are sexually assaulted is not enough.
We ought to stand up for and honor ALL women in ALL circumstances. This means speaking up and saying that it's wrong when a friend makes lewd gestures towards a woman at a bar, for example.
While the blame isn't entirely on men, we certainly have a lot of responsibility for the situation and must answer to that.
As more and more women are finally speaking out against their molesters, those that were silent for decades have found their voice and speak of the injustices they had to endure.
You are it is sickening that Hollywood let this crime perpetuate for so long. It was an open secret, everyone was doing it, the infamous casting couch was a reality not just a form of porn genre.
People in the entertainment industry was expected to barter their sexuality in exchange to getting roles and positions that they had the capacity to do.
Men turned a blind eye because it was expected. Because at that time it was the norm. Things are now changing and I am glad that there are some men who have denounced these sexual predators.
You are right we are here to protect and to stand up for the women we respect and love.
Great article. This should be highlighted and. Upvotedm
Though the truth is that it's not just Hollywood which has enabled this horrible situation. We are responsible for the culture that allowed it to thrive.
It's time for each and every one of us to take a stand.
I agree. We man must stand an protect the women!
I thought you would.
Thank you :-)
You're welcome for speaking out on this. I'm sorry that it took this long to do so.
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