The takeaway from sexual harassment & abuse discussions must not be that fame allowed those men to harass & abuse. It must be that patriarchy - an institutionalized enabler of those men and ALL men - made it possible for those men and the men we all know to harass & abuse.
Our takeaway from sexual harassment and abuse discussions must be that ALL men have benefited from patriarchy - from the very harassment & abuse we’re exposing, even if they’ve never themselves abused. Because that harassment & abuse have made life hell for ALL women.
Men who say “I’ve never done that” must understand that, as many women across world have told me, “When I leave my house for work/school/etc, I am entering a war zone.” And that home - where men we know, abuse women - is a war zone. Patriarchy attacks women everywhere.
Understand that daily, women & girls have had to change behaviour, wardrobe, route home, what time they leave, so many things, just to be safe from harassment & assault. It’s not just “actress lost a role.” It’s also a girl couldn’t go to school, a woman to work.
Patriarchy robs us everyday of not just opportunities but simply the right to be. To exist without having to calculate how to continue existing without getting violated.
And for the men upset at what I’m saying: GOOD. BE UPSET! Women & girls have to calculate how to be safe from patriarchy every day. Your hurt feelings are the least of my concerns.
I am not interested in discussion about sexual harassment & abuse that doesn’t take on patriarchy. Like many women, I’ve spent years performing the “This happened to me at age 4, this at age 15, etc.”What next? What are we doing to dismantle patriarchy? I want action not sympathy
Understand that #MeToo will be crushed and this watershed moment denied of any real change unless we take action vs #KnewButFailedToAct. My # is #FuckThePatriarchy
