Samantha Bee Goes After #MeToo Double-Standard

Read Time:3 Minute, 18 Second

by Michael John Scott

Al Franken was accused by several women of inappropriate touching, and he was pressured to resign by a gang of self-righteous senators led by Kirsten Gillibrand.

He wasn’t the only target of the “Me Too” movement, there were dozens of others, politicians, celebrities, and etc.  There was much weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth at the outrage of it all.

I don’t want to minimize it, as I’ve no doubt much of the outrage was justified, probably most of it, however, it needs to be equal to all offenders, even when they might be friends to your cause such as Aziz Ansari.

Just a few days ago Ashleigh Banfield of CNN went on TV and attacked the accuser, while defending the accused.  This is hypocrisy of the highest order, and Samantha Bee took notice.

Samantha Bee has no sympathy for fellow comedian Aziz Ansari.

“We know the difference between a rapist, a workplace harasser and an Aziz Ansari. That doesn’t mean we have to be happy about any of them,” the comedian joked in her  Full Frontal with Samantha Bee monologue on Wednesday night.

Praised by Vanity Fair as Bee’s strongest monologue yet, the first seven minutes of the weekly TBS late-night show was dedicated to dissecting the #MeToo backlash of the past few weeks, from the ‘ Shitty Media Men‘ list to the recent sexual misconduct allegations against Ansari. On both fronts, Bee feels the backlash is misguided.

“People like me had to wade through a sea of prehensile dicks to build the world we now enjoy,” Bee said. “And part of enjoying that world is setting a higher standard for sex than just ‘not rape.’ And women get to talk about it if men don’t live up to those standards! Especially if that man wrote a book about how to sex good. And if that seems harsh, I’m sorry.”

Bee makes a good point: Ansari did publish his book, Modern Romance, just two years ago, full of essays doling out romantic advice for dating in the era of sexting. In the book, Ansari paints himself as an endearing, bumbling romantic, frustrated by the technological obstacles that are keeping him from sex—no, sorry, love.

That makes the report from  Babe—in which an anonymous woman describes a dubiously consensual, traumatic sexual experience with Ansari—highly embarrassing for the comedian who proudly wore a Times Up pin to the Golden Globes, and was once seen as “one of the good ones.” (Ansari confirmed the encounter but claimed he believed it was consensual.)

Many have come to Ansari’s defense, on the grounds that the accuser (who goes by the pseudonym “Grace”) is attempting to ruin the stand-up’s career. Some claim the sexual experience she describes is common, and not, as Grace told Babe, sexual assault. CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield scathingly dismissed it on HLN Monday night, saying to Grace, “I’m sorry you had a bad date.”

Bee was having none of this. Gaining speed and enthusiasm as she closed her speech, she issued a less-than-sincere apology to all the critics of the so-called witch hunt brought about by #MeToo.

“To men specifically, I’m sorry our request to be respected makes office culture a little less fun and flirty. And I’m sorry we tattled about that stuff you did on us, even when it was totally not rape. But listen: if you don’t want to tune into your partner’s feelings throughout sex, maybe you shouldn’t be a fucking a person at all. May I suggest a coin purse, or a Ziploc bag full of grape jelly?”

Bee took a breath, let the cheers and applause subside, then delivered the final blow: “If you say you’re a feminist, then fuck like a feminist. And if you don’t want to do that, take off your fucking pin, because we are not your accessories.”

About Post Author

Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
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DR BROOKS
5 years ago

IN LIGHT OF DR COSBY GOING TO JAIL AT AGE 81, WHY ARE THOSE REPUBLICAN RACIST THUGS INSIST ON CONFIRMING SOME “SEX OFFENDER” WHILE THEY FORCED AL FRANKEN OUT OF HIS POSITION! IT IS DOWNRIGHT INSULTING! IF THE FEMALES AND THIS SO-CALLED ME TOO FAKENESS ARE REALLY SOMETHING THAT SHOULD BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY THEN THEY BETTER START WITH THAT THUG IN THE WHITE HOUSE AND GET HIS FELLOW THUGS TO STOP CONFIRMATION! NO WONDER WOMEN DO NOT COME OUT AND SAY ANYTHING! AND BY THE WAY, GET THAT UNCLE TOM, CLARENCE THOMAS KICKED OFF THE HIGHEST COURT IN THE LAND. I SWEAR I WISH I NEVER WAS BORN IN SUCH A PATHETIC PHONY NATION FOUNDED BY MURDERING THUGS FOR MURDERING, RAPING THUGS!!!!

PEEVED,
DR BROOKS

Neil Bamforth
6 years ago

I’m genuinely relieved I’m 60 and happily married for 34 years.

If I was 16 or 18 or 20 I’d be bloody terrified of buying a girl a drink.

Glenn R. Geist
6 years ago

It’s the practice of making generalizations from anecdotes I’m complaining about, whether it’s “all men are rapists” or “all women are whores” even if some are. How far is it from “some are inviting it” to “them bitches deserve it?”

I have no doubt that the casting couch is not always involuntary, but that doesn’t put an actress under suspicion of being a whore ipso facto

Perhaps having a dick waved in your face, or a prospective employer jack off into a flower pot is not a voluntary thing either and I suspect it isn’t. But I’m sticking to my assertion that cases be tried on their merits and evidence and not by generalization.

Bill Formby
6 years ago

I just read an article about Briget Bardot. To you younger folks she was a ten before there was a ten. She was openly critical of actresses who were complaining about being sexually harassed by directors and producers. In her view it was part of the game to get roles in an industry where beauty and sexiness was in abundance. As I read the article I remembered the time from when she came in her most popular time (she is now 83). She was competing with women who were sexy just walking around. These were the days of Marilyn Monroe, Jane Mansfield, Sophia Loren, and Jane Russell. There were many more but I make my point here that that she was saying that the actresses tend to use their own flirtatious ways to entice themselves into the good graces of the power men in Hollywood to get parts in movies. She contends that it still happens which makes the female actresses hypocrites. Bardot specifically pointed out that this applied only to women in the entertainment field and not to women as a group. Of course, she is possibly still living in those days when some women cherished being kept in the style of life they preferred and not the life that the other 99% of the women actually had to live.

6 years ago

One of the things zealotry does is to feed itself by supplying more examples than it needs and sometimes more examples than exist. I suggested at one point that perhaps the war cries demanding that all accusations be believed because enough of them were true that all of them must be true and there are people who haven’t been friends since.

But it seems I was right.

It reminds me of the days when you could ruin someone with a false accusation of Communist leanings. Once all it took was an accusation of heresy or witchcraft. No, I’m not saying men don’t behave badly and some don’t know the difference and others don’t care. I’m highly sympathetic but everything becomes a battle of the bands and no one has a voice unless that voice corresponds with what some group is preaching.

So here we are: to some a criticism of the president is treason, to others criticism of a group is racism or misogyny or religious bigotry and individual voices lose out to power. Ironic is the kindest word I can use.

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