On Powerful Men and Sexual Assault

I know; it's bad. There is no excuse, really. It is also [somewhat] deliberate. I'm so sick of deadlines that I didn't want to be bound by one. I also kinda didn't have the time. Yeah, so those were actually excuses. I don't even think I'm back to regular programming. Anyway, everyone has heard of Weinstein, the alleged predator who has...where do I even begin? You know the rest. I wasn't actually following the story as I was just sick of disgusting men taking advantage of women, so I didn't read the expose or any of the think pieces that followed. I did however read Lupita Nyong'o's op ed on New York times. I was so furious, I penned some thoughts on Facebook. It had been a while I actually posted a status on Facebook or anywhere else, how much more a long rant. The conversation of posting thoughts on social media is for another time. I think I want to blog on that too and on many other things really, but I don't feel like right. Anyway,  find below my rant.



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Sometimes I joke about saying "no" for the heck of it. Because it's hard to say no. No to hanging out. No to drinks. No to that phone call. Just nah, no further explanations. Even despite being somewhat self-assured, saying "no" is still hard. So even if some of those victims' careers were not at stake, it's not especially difficult to see how they could have been victims of the predator. I mean, women have been killed for turning down advances.

I remember being an undergrad, and especially being in a department with notoriously lascivious men. I was an extremely YOUNG student. So I was always on the defensive. My weapon, and what I constantly used to disarm those men was to NEVER get familiar with any of the professors. I never went to their offices. I never as much as laughed/smiled with them. I addressed everyone professionally. I had ZERO relationships with professors from undergrad, because these were men comfortable making jokes [about ones physical appearance] that were hella uncomfortable. But they held all the power. And I wanted to viciously guard my innocence. Except not only did my grades suffer, I pretty much hated school; such that even as a grad student, I still tried to keep a safe distance even when I was now working with respectable, smart people. I'm lucky my grades were all that suffered; many others aren't so lucky.

I don't commend the men that always knew how terrible this weinstein person was, but are just now withdrawing from his stupid company. Neither is it impressive that he was fired. They basically are not sorry for his actions; they are just sorry he was caught/exposed. This is why I'm upset that people still don't believe women are equal to men. Because for as long as we live in a society that glorifies men as superior, more and more continually use that power to silence women. It's trite, really. But it's reality.

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