With the countless sexual improprieties of Harvey Weinstein being make public the "Me Too" movement has blown up with thousands millions of women posting these two words on social media to indicate that they too have been sexually harassed and/or assaulted. Lovely world isn't it?
I'm certainly no expert on human behavior but I have been thinking about why some men behave this way. I have (more than two) words to add to the fray.
There is no dispute that men are biologically wired for sex. They think about sex a lot and the men who harass women are unable or unwilling to mentally draw that line between appropriate and inappropriate sexual behavior.
Perhaps men think that women are as sexually wired as they are and want to engage in sexual behavior as badly as they do.
Men want to exert power over women because it makes them feel better about themselves and because they're wired for sex they naturally default to this method.
I am not sure to what extent our culture plays into sexual harassment/assault but we can't deny that it does.
In the evenings while I work I've been watching old M*A*S*H reruns. This is a show that, at its time, was ground-breaking in exposing the idiosyncrasies of war. It won multiple awards throughout its eleven year duration. But in almost every episode I see examples of sexual harassment inflicted by the male doctors toward the female nurses. Call it innocuous flirting, or nebulous teasing, in today's world, those nurses could file a harassment lawsuit and win. And what's more disturbing, it's all done in the name of comedy. The laugh track is loud and clear. The behavior of the men toward the women is supposed to be funny.
Fortunately entertainment has evolved somewhat from the days when it was funny to harass women. So I guess we can be glad about that. Unfortunately, the goings on behind the scenes are not so quick to come to light. But with the "Me Too" movement, perhaps its time has come.
Your thoughts?
