Powerful Men and Sexual Assault

The New York Times broke the story on big-shot, money mogul, and Miramax founder Harvey Weinstein. Their investigation and final release of their findings ripped the oozing band-aid off a wound men like him prefer to keep covered - sexual harassment, sexual abuse, and sexual victimizing of women. I guess see no evil, hear no evil is okay with report no evil.

Men, especially men of power, seem to be untouchable when it comes to these allegations. Even when the women report the crimes, rumors are heard, and stories are shared, these men still get away with it all. But why? Because with power comes money. Many victims are paid, and paid well to keep quiet. Often legally bound to not speak publicly. And if after years of silence these victims do decide to speak out, many people (friends and family members) shake their heads in disbelief believing that a man of such power and integrity could never do such a thing. The only reason why these women are saying these awful things is because of this reason or that reason. These women must be gold-diggers, liars, cheats, or sluts.

As Donna Karan said before apologizing for her comments after learning her clothing line was going to be boycotted, “How do we display ourselves, how do we present ourselves as women, what are we asking? Are we asking for it, you know, by presenting all the sensuality and all the sexuality?” It’s not Harvey Weinstein. You look at everything all over the world today and how women are dressing and, you know, what they’re asking by just presenting themselves the way they do. What are they asking for? Trouble.”

I guess some friendships are not thicker than water when it comes to business.

According to Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Chicago Tribune writer, "A gross misconception about prosecuting sexual crimes has instilled the dangerous public notion that rape and sexual harassment can be minimized, marginalized or even marked because the clock has wound down on when the crime could or even should be reported or prosecuted."

Sexual crimes should never have a limit. These crimes leave scars that last a lifetime. And if the creep gets away with it once, he is bound to do it again.

Often what contributes to the problem is the misunderstanding of what a typical sexual predator looks like. Studies have shown that attackers are not usually stereotypical. It can be anyone. Then this finding will explain why men like Bill O'Reilly, Roger Ailes, Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, and even our own president are often overlooked as predators. What the public sees are men who are happily married, philanthropist, outstanding citizens, and supporters of women's rights. They couldn't possibly be sexual predators. Oh, my dear reader, they are. Remember Trump's own words bragging about kissing and groping women one month before he was elected.

"I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait." And "Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything"

And you ask how is it possible that he is president, well, because more than half of the white women in the United States voted for him! They chose not to believe the victim stories. But guess what ladies, your president is being brought up on charges of sexual assault. More than likely he will get off, but the stories will always be out there and eventually they will stick.

Before and after Alyssa Milano started #MeToo on social media, the discussion of sexual assault has been shared in the limelight or behind closed doors. Getting rid of high profile men accused of these crimes only highlights the company's action but says nothing about what they are going to do with the creep. Even Fox News took Bill O'Reilly back! A few firings will not solve the continuous problems of objectification. What needs to happen is the movement of conversation from the back rooms to the court rooms and have actual justice prevail!

Some things to ponder:

• Raping your spouse wasn't a crime until a court first accepted it as such in 1979.

• The Supreme Court didn't recognize sexual harassment as a violation of federal employment law until 1986. This was unheard of to many Americans even after Anita Hill took the stand before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991, and still Clarence Thomas sites on the Supreme Court.

• In 2012 (a long time coming) the FBI updated its definition of rape from "the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will" to "any type of penetration with the consent of the victim".

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Until next time, "As hard as it may be, your story must be told!"