Friday, November 10, 2017

For Your Consideration

It really sucks to find out that your comedy/music/film/political idols are bad guys who victimize women. Consider that women have been living with this disappointment our whole lives.
I'm not trying to be snotty. Really consider it.
When I was a kid, my grandmother was dating a nice, older gentleman who was kind to me. Then he exposed himself to me while we were at the pool.
As a teen, I fended off the advances of a family friend.
When I was in college, the department head, who cast me in his play, burst into my dressing room while I was in my underwear and thought my discomfort was hilarious.
In grad school, a brilliant professor treated me like I was special. And then he sexually harassed me, in class, for a year.
I had a boss who told me that I could run the business one day. Later, he grabbed me in the store room and forced kisses on me while I fought him off.
It goes on.
If you're a woman, you figure out that you should always temper your admiration of men, because a sizable percentage of them are going to prove themselves unworthy of your admiration. You learn to distrust men who tell you that you are smart, or independent, or talented, because there's a good chance they're trying to trick you into something.
Consider how this affects us.
Consider it, because I know you have never done so before.
Consider it, and while you're doing that, I'll be waiting for the next monster in my life to reveal himself.

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