For about the last week, everybody in our corner on Facebook has been seeing the “Me too” posts about sexual assault and harassment.
Someone, I don't know who, started a challenge: if all the people who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote "Me Too." as a status, we might give those paying attention a sense of the magnitude of this problem.
The response has been an epidemic. It's not surprising. But saying "at least 50% to 60% of all women in the United States have been sexually assaulted or harassed" is one thing. To see just about every female voice in one's Facebook feed say "Me Too" is entirely something else.
I’ve got another challenge for you.
Think back to to what you have done.
Have you been one of those who made the “Me too” happen?
Who pushed too far in a bar?
Who hinted the raise might get granted?
Who insisted on giving that massage?
Who decided that “No” really meant “Maybe?"
Who decided that “No” really meant “Sure, I’m just being coy?”
Who simply ignored the “No?”
Are you “that person?”
Be honest
Forget about “not all men,” or “I would never!” or “Ask anyone, that’s not *me!*”
I’m not saying to post “me too”
I’m saying, think about what you have done.
Is that “in the past” really “in the past?”
There’s a reason this is so prevalent. It’s because we, as a society, *let* it be prevalent.
It’s because we make excuses when it’s someone we know.
It’s because we say “What was she doing there?”
It’s because we say “Oh, they’re just having buyer’s remorse.”
It’s because we decide that “it was just their imagination.”
I’m saying, now, “what are you going to do, from now on?”
Are you going to keep letting the rape jokes slide?
Are you still going to say “He’ll make a good roommate for ‘Big Bubba’ when he gets to prison?”
Are you still going to say “she only got that promotion because she slept with him?”
Are you going to keep on being “that guy” that either does it or makes that behavior “normal,” that says “it’s just locker room talk?”
What are you going to do, now?
Don’t tell me.
Tell yourself.
And don’t lie.
