You’ve heard the politicians say it. You’ve heard the psychologists say it. And you’ve heard a lot of women say it along with their husbands, brothers, fathers and sons who say it.
Everyone’s saying that there needs to be a conversation about sexual harassment and what to do about it.
All these calls that we have a conversation come after we’ve had an explosion of reports of dozens and dozens of men who have been accused of sexual harassment and sexual assault in some cases.
And the list keeps growing every day. And the list shows no favorites.
The men accused are in entertainment, the news media, big business, small business, politics, schools, sports and the military. In other words, in every walk of life. So yes having a conversation about sexual harassment is a good idea.
But just having a conversation about it is not going to be enough if at the end of that conversation; we haven’t come up with a way to end it.
But it won’t be easy. Because the questions that have to be part of that conversation are not going to be easy to have a conversation about.
Questions like: Why do so many men act like jerks toward women? And why do so many men treat sex like it’s a toy to be played with? And why are so many women afraid to come forward until much later? And why do so many people on the sidelines who know or strongly suspect that something is going on not say anything? And why does the entertainment and advertising world use women as sex objects and not people in movies and commercials.
Having a conversation about those questions is not going to be easy because the answers may lie in the mirror.
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