Sexual harassment: And male privilege

Dortell Williams October 12, 2021 SEXUAL HARASSMENT: AND MALE PRIVILEGE Like criminality, male privilege takes on a certain mindset; a mindset of entitlement where twisted thinking allows some of us guys to believe the world owes us something we can rightly take. Of course, this warped type of thinking is anti-social, wrong-headed, and harmful — very harmful. Ignorance is the strongest component of this malevolence. And we know that ignorance is no excuse, what's wrong is wrong and that fact is evident to anyone with a conscience, yet details matter. What I learned by a simple reading on sexual harassment is that by its most direct meaning, it is objectification of women. Many of us guys are taught by culture to ignore the entirety of women — their wit, their intelligence, their skills and talent — and concentrate on various physical aspects. And as if that weren't bad enough, we are acculturated to view those aspects for selfish pleasure. This only serves to dehumanize women, the honorable gender that brought us into this world! Actually, the definition of sexual harassment didn't come into play until 1978 (Farley). Sexual harassment of women is as old as the sun, it's even in the Bible for goodness' sake! (II Samuel 13). That's where Ammon rapes Tamar, another problem with objectification of women: one thing leads to another, spirals, and before you know it, a small sin snowballs into a big sin. Sexual harassment is unwanted sexual attention as a condition of Williams / Sexual Harassment Page 2 employment. It doesn't have to be explicit, and it is most insidious when implied, because deception comes with implication. Trust is broken, traumatisation sets and that's where the real damage is done. As the writer here, I’m going to take it a step farther by including school-aged girls, because that's where the thinking and behavior starts. When I was in grade school a band of us thought it was cool to go around pulling the back of girls' bra straps as a joke, but couldn't that be considered sexual harrassment, especially if we shunned them for not playing along? We thought it was cool, and sadly, many adult men believe it's cool to "conquer” and otherwise dog women. That twisted thinking is nothing more than warped group think, and the truth is, there is absolutely nothing cool about dehumanization, particularly for men of color whose ancestors endured genocide, slavery, and other forms of dehumanization. If anyone should be sensitive to dehumanization, it is people of color. We should never aspire to be what we most abhor! Personally, I believe ignorance is the biggest cause of most human misery, whether its climate change denial, disbelief in rehabilitation, or thinking that it's cool to harass women; ignorance is a monster. But now that you've read this, man, ignorance is no excuse. For sure, to know better is to do better. So help me slay the monsters that perpetuate sexual harassment and the objectification of the world's queens! That' what real men do. Source: Farley, L. (1978). Shakedown: The sexual harassment of women on the job