Think before you accuse. ladies, so as not to belittle your movement, undermine the cause. Tell the truth and understand the difference between a bad date, a mistake, and all the truly abusive things that can happen between a man with power and a woman who has no power.
"A Sexual Encounter, and a Dispute"
by Bari Weiss JAN. 19, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/19/opinion/metoo-ansari-harassment.html
"Aziz Ansari and his accuser went on a date. She accompanied him back to his apartment, allowed him to perform a sex act on her, reciprocated, rebuffed his efforts to take it further, then got up and left."
"The #MeToo movement has exposed plenty of lecherous predators, but Mr. Ansari is not one of them. Baseless accusations like this, and the media’s failure to distinguish between sexual assault and second thoughts, belittle the experiences of genuine victims . . . "
There's another bit in this article suggesting our hook-up culture is to blame, i.e., free love, like in the '60s. Bull shit! The bit also says women do not want sex like a man. Bull shit. Yu read it as you please. I call it bull shit.
Women like sex, go to a man's room, try him out, and CAN LEAVE ANY TIME THEY WANT, WHETHER they are 22 OR 55! Do not tell me if a girl/woman grabs a man's penis, gives him a BJ, then says she feels uncomfortable, that they are surprised the man wants her to continue! OK, if the man wants you to continue, just STOP. Stop and leave. It is THAT SIMPLE.
In this respect, the French are right. Le Monde has an article that was written by Franck Nouch to suggest there is more to the scenario to consider. Is sexual freedom under attack? French women reserve the right to be seduced.
The "hook up" culture is not a bunch of slut nyphos contrary to some people's EXTREMELY OUTDATED CONSERVATIVE RELIGIOUS OPINIONS.
The '60s gave women a "RIGHT" to like sex, so live with it! WOMEN LIKE SEX AS MUCH AS MEN! THERE IS NO BIOLOGICAL BASIS TO SAY THEY DO NOT!
Men will fight the movement, starting with calling it "feminist" rather than an honest name, like JUSTICE!
Women may argue against the #METOO, failing to recognize the center is abuse of power as much as sex abuse. The movement is about powerful men, not powerful women. Powerful women fight back, of course, but aiding and supporting less powerful women and girls is what #METOO is doing.
Men will fight to stay in power.
The Time's Up campaign springs from #METOO with hope of ending systemic and systematic sexual harassment, stop the use of non-disclosure agreements to silence victims, and seek equal pay for equal work. There is now a $14.5 (Wahlberg added $1.5M) legal defense fund.
How will women disrupt the status quo, as the Alt-right disrupts, or the "Mad Hater" (yes, hater) Tweety disrupts.
Is there a woman on Earth who can disrupt male dominance in USA?
"The 2018 Golden Globes: Oprah Leads a Decisive Feminist Takeover"
By Michael Schulman 8 Jan 2018
I do not like using a single, sometimes nasty term to describe what should be truth and justice, a rebalancing of power in American society.
"You’d have to go back to the AIDS ribbons of the mid-nineties to find a red-carpet political fashion statement half as effective as the black gowns (and tuxedos) that flooded the entrance to the Beverly Hilton, many affixed with “Time’s Up” pins. Naturally, the stunt had its detractors before it even took place. Was coordinated couture really the best response to an outpouring of sexual-assault horror stories? Would it look funereal? Were the activist plus-ones being reduced to accessories? As it turned out, the celebrities were, by and large, focused and on message. “This is not a moment. It’s a movement,” Eva Longoria told Carson Daly."
Off message, male host? "All male" director nominees . . .
"“Good evening, ladies and remaining gentlemen,” the host, Seth Meyers, said in his opening monologue. Meyers had a weird job, and he knew it: his mere presence was off message."
More.
"Fortuitously, all the winning productions were female-centric: “Big Little Lies,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Lady Bird,” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” "
"And then came Oprah. No one on earth is better equipped to modulate tone in a tricky television situation than Winfrey, who was there to receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. The DeMille speech is fast becoming a kind of alternative State of the Union address."
I suppose I am not surprised there are some women who feel the #METOO is an overreaction. See what Catherine D. says in the New Yorker, that women and girls are not victims. Women and girls can get equal pay, and can enjoy sexual abuse freely, or not.
The backlash.
"Catherine Deneuve denounces #MeToo in open letter"
By Frank Andrews, Yelena Peigne and Judith Vonberg, CNN
Updated 8:33 AM ET, Thu January 11, 2018
http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/10/europe/catherine-deneuve-france-letter-metoo-intl/index.html
"Paris (CNN)A collective of 100 French women including film star Catherine Deneuve have signed an open letter defending men's "freedom to pester" women, sparking an angry response from a group of feminist activists.
The open letter, which criticized the #MeToo movement and warned about a new "puritanism" sparked by recent sexual harassment allegations, was published Tuesday in French newspaper Le Monde.
The group of writers, performers, academics and businesswomen denounced a "hatred of men and sexuality" and the recent wave of "denunciations." Men's "freedom to pester" is "indispensable to sexual freedom," they wrote.
"Rape is a crime, but insistent or clumsy flirting is not an offense, nor is gallantry macho aggression.""
No,#METOO is not seeking less sexual freedom, rather freedom to choose whether to be involved sexually, not forced to be involved sexually. There is a difference these 100 or so French women do not acknowledge.
The women of France are simply stating a different perspective on power, the useless perspective actually. Yes, if a woman has power, like Oprah Winfrey does today, she can ignore abuse because it will not happen to her.
These French women seem to think ALL women are in power positions, or that anyone can overcome bullying, and sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is a different term for bullying. Bullying is not something these French women recognize in their critique of #METOO.
These women critical of the #METOO are not acknowledging abuse and men in power bullying women, that is apparent.
"A group of around 30 activists, led by prominent feminist Caroline De Haas, responded on Wednesday with a scathing critique, published on France Info.
They accused the signatories of deliberately mixing "seduction, based on respect and pleasure, with violence."
"Sexual violence is not 'intensified flirting,'" they wrote. "One means treating the other as your equal, respecting their desires, whatever they may be. The other is treating them as an object at your disposal, paying no attention to their own desires, or their consent."
They also criticized the letter's claim that the movement risks going "too far," and the suggestion that it's the responsibility of women to protect themselves from intimidation.
"When will we ask the question about men's responsibility to not rape or abuse?" they wrote, describing the letter as "a bit like the annoying colleague or the tiring uncle who doesn't really understand what's going on around him."
Sandra Muller, founder of the #BalanceTonPorc ("squeal on your pig") movement -- the French equivalent of #MeToo -- also denounced Tuesday's letter.
Speaking to CNN, she described it as "buzz for the sake of buzz" and criticized the signatories, saying "they are just going to sap the morale of the numerous victims who try to have a bit of courage."
"Feminism is not about protecting sexual liberation," she added, "but about protecting women."
