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| Picture courtesy of Microsoft |
I had a seriously angry moment today when I read a post
George Takei shared on FB. Like many others, I am angry and upset over
the things I have heard this candidate say about and toward women. However, after reading this article, I’m angrier
and upset with society as a whole (and the news) for allowing the reporting of
this incident as a “comedic” piece.
Yes, I know it’s from 1992 and it’s supposed to be funny,
but Jesus Christ, really? No wonder
women have to walk around and be aware of their surroundings at all times and
no wonder so many of us have learned to brush off lewd comments and sexual
advances because it’s so goddamn commonplace.
Somewhere along the line we never shut down this behavior and it’s
become the norm. What the fuck, society?
I think about these poor girls who, at the time, were
probably told not to worry about it and don’t think twice about it—words condoning
the creepy behavior. The sad thing is
that type of behavior was so commonplace and as my husband so aptly pointed
out, we didn’t have social media back in the 90s to be able to circulate the
information and have someone stand up and say, “Hey, that’s not right and here’s
why.” Instead, we let it continue to
happen over and over. I recall being in
high school and hearing about a certain math teacher that used to seat girls
with big breasts in the front so he could look down their shirts. I even had a science teacher that came onto
me twice in ninth grade and I just ignored his advances instead of calling him
out because I was never taught how to shut that behavior down.
As I was processing and discussing this latest commentary
with my husband, I started to think about how this is probably what Black People
and Muslims feel like when people treat them like second class citizens even
though they are contributing as much, if not more, to our society. So many groups of people have lived with this
condoned behavior for so long. We’re used to it and that’s scary
because so many people seem to not have a problem with that, and instead
circulate hate messages shaming victims.
No wonder victims don’t want to come forward! I give a HUGE shout out to those that do—it takes
a lot of courage to do so especially when you have people automatically calling
you a liar.
Sometimes I curse social media because so much bullshit gets
circulated around, but right now it’s bringing a lot of visibility to a topic
that needs to be addressed and dealt with.
Seriously, we need to stand up and say enough is enough and that this
behavior is not okay. People are so
impressionable and when they see someone in a very public light saying and
doing these things, they think it’s okay to start doing so. You’ll note I did not put a “young” in front
of people because sadly, I’ve seen people of all ages doing this—condoning this
bad treatment of others. Seriously…if we
want to be the intelligent species on this planet, we really need to start acting
like it and rise up and focus on shit that really matters: global warming, the economy, mental illness,
incurable diseases…that’s the shit that should be important and we should start believing that everyone has something to contribute.
