Sex, power, and influence
The #METOO movement one year later has proven indeed to be a movement that is changing culture.
The world waits to hear whether Judge Brett Kavanaugh will be appointed to the highest court of the land in the U.S., despite two women coming forward to claim sexual assaults committed by Kavanaugh. The results of an FBI investigation are muddy at best.
Last week, we saw Bill Cosby convicted, and in shackles taken to jail. The actor once lovingly called America’s dad, now dubbed a sexual predator.
Harvey Weinstein awaits his fate as do other high-profile people who abused their power by alleged unwanted sexual advances and attacks against women.
Thanks to #METOO, women in sports, boardrooms, and those just living their everyday lives, women, girls, boys and men have finally found the courage to report the sexual abuse that has wrecked parts of their lives. In an interview with Context, former NHL star Theo Fleury calls child sexual abuse “one of the biggest epidemics on the planet.”
From the White House to the gym, people all over the world are vowing no more, never again.
We’re witnessing a major culture shift that some say we haven’t seen since the women’s suffragette movement. According to the Economist, “It takes a decade or more for patterns of social behaviour to change.”
The #MeToo, #ChurchToo, #SilenceIsNotSpiritual movements may be in their infancy, but, one year on, and after living through other gripping pop culture trials reflective of how power judges the influence and worth of women – think O.J. Simpson, Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas, and now Kavanaugh and Blasey Ford – it is about that – power.
We are all equal in God’s eyes, but politics is a different thing all together. The very meaning of the word politics is influence. Will we ever see equal influence and representation of women or will that remain a quest throughout the ages?
One thing is certain: sexual harassment, violence or abuse of any kind by anyone, anywhere is culturally and morally reprehensible and thankfully, after coming to light through the #METOO and other movements – it will not be tolerated.
