I wasn't in the meeting, just heard the leaks about it, but apparently Marcy Kaptur, a long serving Democratic Representative (Ohio) spoke out at a meeting of Captiol Hill women, Congresswomen, staffers, and said while she was as outraged as anyone about the stories she's heard over the years about male Congressmen and staffers in the grips of testosterone storm, she recognizes that when a woman gets dressed in the morning, her clothes make a statement about her and if she has "cleavage down to the floor" that might evoke a response in a male.
She was not, of course, blaming the victim, but that's the way her shocked colleagues heard it because they are so swept up in the hysteria, a veritable Salem witch trial atmosphere, they refuse to hear the other side of the equation.
Nobody is excusing lascivious behavior by libidinous males, but when you present yourself as a sexually provocative female, you must accept some responsibility for the response you elicit.
Meghan Kelly has got to be the ultimate in all this: She could not understand why men propositioned her, did not treat her with the respect her journalistic professionalism earned her.
One might ask, in the first place, exactly how much of a profession journalism is. After all, in England they are called, "news readers" which is really what many journalists are. Fox News exploded the idea of a well trained discipline by dressing up pretty blondes in red dresses showing lots of leg to do "the news." Not to group a pro like Gwen Ifil with that crowd, but it's not like you have to go to Columbia Journalism School and pass an exam to be a "journalist" or a congresswoman.
The respect you get is the respect you earn. The profession does not earn you that prestige simply by membership. You have to earn esteem.
That doesn't mean you should be groped or raped--A prostitute is every bit as violated by a rape as any woman. Permission must be granted.
But in some cases women by their dress or their behavior invoke a sort of power play and tacitly dare men by titillation. That, too, is aggressive behavior, no less so because it is unspoken, or subtle.
"Me too," has gone too far.
The feeding frenzy which tore Al Franken apart along with efforts to get at a lunatic pedophile has got to end.
Blood in the water is one thing.
Indiscriminate accusations are quite another.
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| Representative Kaptur |
She was not, of course, blaming the victim, but that's the way her shocked colleagues heard it because they are so swept up in the hysteria, a veritable Salem witch trial atmosphere, they refuse to hear the other side of the equation.
Nobody is excusing lascivious behavior by libidinous males, but when you present yourself as a sexually provocative female, you must accept some responsibility for the response you elicit.
 |
| Professional Journalist |
Meghan Kelly has got to be the ultimate in all this: She could not understand why men propositioned her, did not treat her with the respect her journalistic professionalism earned her.
One might ask, in the first place, exactly how much of a profession journalism is. After all, in England they are called, "news readers" which is really what many journalists are. Fox News exploded the idea of a well trained discipline by dressing up pretty blondes in red dresses showing lots of leg to do "the news." Not to group a pro like Gwen Ifil with that crowd, but it's not like you have to go to Columbia Journalism School and pass an exam to be a "journalist" or a congresswoman.
The respect you get is the respect you earn. The profession does not earn you that prestige simply by membership. You have to earn esteem.
That doesn't mean you should be groped or raped--A prostitute is every bit as violated by a rape as any woman. Permission must be granted.
But in some cases women by their dress or their behavior invoke a sort of power play and tacitly dare men by titillation. That, too, is aggressive behavior, no less so because it is unspoken, or subtle.
"Me too," has gone too far.
The feeding frenzy which tore Al Franken apart along with efforts to get at a lunatic pedophile has got to end.
Blood in the water is one thing.
Indiscriminate accusations are quite another.
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