Tarana Burke, Rose McGowan, Asia Argento and many more women
have ridden the year long rebuke of gender inequality in the US and razed one
of the most vile, cancerous cores of it: sexual harassment and sexual assault.
These brave women and so many others are felling titans of various industries
left and right. In a year that everyone wishes we could forget, but likely will
remember for the ages, the Metoo movement is a silver lining. It is a concrete,
albeit harsh, step towards justice that women (and our allies) promised ourselves
at last year’s Women’s March.
I have been fortunate to have escaped sexual harassment mostly
unscathed and am not a survivor of sexual assault. I note that from my teenage
years, I have, like most girls, constantly navigated through incidents. These
have ranged from head down scurries through catcalls on the street, which,
although common, still feel TERRIBLE to just knowing to get out of or preempt
certain situations. I am not a survivor, but have felt the ever-present threat,
which is palpable and scary.
While working at the UN, I used to tell interns that came to
work in my office each year, “Listen, there’s a lot of dirty old men here at
the UN. Most have diplomatic immunity. If you find yourself in an uncomfortable
situation let me know and we’ll figure out how to handle it.” This advice
served me well too. However, there was the time I was delivering a statement
about child soldiers in northern Uganda to members of the UN Security Council
and one member (of the UN SECURITY COUNCIL) caught my eye, smiled broadly, held
up his hand like a phone and mouthed “call me”. My instincts told me that he
didn’t want me to give him the latest statistics on child mothers…I always say
that I became a feminist when I turned 30 and found myself on the frontlines of
sexism for the first time in my life at the UN.
Alas, I am irked by the growing pushback on the MeToo
movement. There are valid criticisms, like why did Taylor Swift and not Tarana
Burke make it on to the cover of Time magazine? Indeed, the sensitivity around
intersectional feminism, while difficult, is a welcome struggle that women are
facing. But I’m also seeing articles in my social media feed about the “inevitable
blowback”, the need for a clear direction, the need to crown an infallible
leader, and the failure to recognize victims who are not celebrities or in some
other position of power. I know these questions are part of the struggle, but some
of them unfairly eclipse the burgeoning movement.
Underscoring all of these questions is my frustration with
our culture in general: why do we need to know the end at the beginning? Our
addiction to instant gratification is selling progress short. An example from
another recent movement: when the Occupy Wall Street Movement happened, similar
questions were asked and it was condemned as a failure when the actual
occupation ended. And yet, two years later “the 1%” is an established and damning criticism in our lexicon and I would even say some of the current
resistance began to get “woke” during this time.
As for the celebrity figurehead, of course this is
problematic, but these women truly suffered and since our culture worships
celebrity, this is likely the best way to finally name this thing that happens
or could happen to every woman I know. Rose McGowan is far from perfect. Some
of her tweets make me cringe. But we don’t need perfect leaders; they don’t exist.
I also disagree profusely with the idea that we’re only dealing with famous
peoples’ experiences. They grab the headlines, sure, but I bet there’s a whole
lot of decision-making by men in power outside of Hollywood that has changed
profoundly. Whether it’s the rot of Hollywood and politics that EVERYONE knows
about or the office park in suburban Dallas or the pizza joint on the Jersey
shore or the hospital in Boston, women know two things: they are not alone and
people FINALLY believe them.
The tide is turning and the impact is being felt. “Feminism”
has gone from a badge of the militant fringe to a rallying cry for all women. Well,
except for the seemingly impenetrable block of white conservative women – come on
sisters! Danica Roem and the Virginia elections show us that the movement is
real and the resistance to inequality is not going quietly into the night. The
brave women who continue to come forward have changed the workplace forever.
They have torn down one of its largest, most invisible but viciously tangible
obstacles. The restoration of workplace order and women’s ascension to power is
happening.
“Sometimes people try
to destroy you, precisely because they recognize your power - not because they
don't see it, but because they see it and they don't want it to exist.” – bell hooks
