Why #MeToo Movement Should Be Named #YouToo
The problem with social movements is they may move too far, or not far enough. If you ask the dozens or so men who have now lost their careers and, in some cases, their very livelihoods following sexual harassment or abuse allegations, they might opt for the former.
California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, who chairs the Legislative Women’s Caucus, has risen to national prominence with her advocacy for victims of victims of sexual assault and harassment. While she proudly counts herself as one of those victims she herself is now facing multiple accusations of sexual misconduct.
Two men who spoke to Politico are now making allegations of misconduct against Garcia, including one who says the Democrat groped him after the annual Assembly softball game in Sacramento in 2014.
Daniel Fierro, then 25 and working for Assemblyman Ian Calderon, says a drunk Garcia cornered him while he was cleaning a dugout, stroked his back, squeezed his butt, and tried to touch his crotch before he slipped away.
Fierro—who says Garcia later “had to have other people hold her up”—didn’t report the incident for fear of repercussions, though the Assembly Rules Committee launched an investigation after Fierro mentioned it to Calderon in January.
Read: TV Host Claims Al Franken Forcibly Kissed and Groped Her
Two coworkers say he also relayed the incident to them. “I knew that I had had an experience that didn’t jibe with what … she was saying, and that kind of hypocrisy was really hard to stomach,” Fierro tells the Washington Post.
An unidentified lobbyist says Garcia also cornered him, said she’d “set a goal for myself to f— you,” and tried to grab his crotch at a political fundraiser in 2017, where he claims she’d been drinking heavily.
In a statement, Garcia says she has “zero recollection of engaging in inappropriate behavior” and “will participate fully in any investigation that takes place.” She would say that, wouldn’t she?
While unusual to hear of women abusing men in such a manner, it is not unheard of, and hypocrisy in such cases is often lurking just below the surface. Men are often reluctant to come forward for fear of ridicule, and I am living proof, but more on that later.
Me too….but life’s a bitch eh?
Bill, I too would appreciate the massage over the slap. I remember, about 20 years ago feeling someone grab my ass. Since this was a woman’s firearms training course it could have only been a woman, and for that I was relieved. I never figured out who did it, however, but confess I was flattered. I do think it’s different for men.
There are two sides to every story though one side is usually more heavily weighted. In many cases most men do not become offended by getting there butt groped, most women do. Here again we see the stereotype jumping forward. I had a young woman explain this to me once. She said it is not a big deal because you men run around slapping each other on the butt all the time. I told her that I would appreciate more of a massage than a slap from a woman.
I have rarely agreed with anything as much
And I’ve rarely had such angry response as I got on FB when pointing out this same opinion. The rise to power and authority in groups with good intentions parallels that of groups with bad intentions. They can become cults, cut off their members from other sources of information, portray everyone as offenders and punish differing opinions. The Spanish inquisition may have started with good intentions, but it doesn’t matter. All groups want to be the sole spokesman and sole authority and sole arbiter of what is good and bad. Where you wind up is that all people are sinners, all white males are wife beaters and racists, just as the opposite groups progress to all blacks are this, all women are that and all democrats are something else. That’s what Orwell was about.
I was worried Jess was going to sharpen her knives when she read this Glenn, but I was lucky.
🙂 The one feeling I have might have been hurt were I someone else you know. Am I that scary?
I can’t see how this might offend you, but of course I don’t know you. What I’m trying to say is that when problems turn into organizations, organizations undergo a process of evolution just like any self-reproducing entity, like a government or church or Party does.
Competition from other organizations and resistance from within and without force changes or defenses against change. Sometimes the cause itself or the survival of the cause becomes the cause, sometimes the organization has to opposee many of the things it’s based on – like freedom or honesty or empiricism. The doctrine once based on statistics soon has to stifle or manipulate statistics as new data requires change. Too often organizations have to use hyperbole to scare you unduly or to keep you from being scared.
So when it becomes possible to do something that a certain group insists is impossible, they will attack the facts rather than reformulate the doctrine.
Witch hunts become frequent because of the need to show unity, so you can vilify a member who supports the principle, but not the rhetoric and this sponsors further schism and fragmentation and the war or all against all proceeds and hope fades and wars start and nothing gets done.
Just a bad Hobbsian dream, of course, but it seems to fit, in my opinion.
I was messing with Mike. Nothing offends me much and I know there are times I can come across as a real bitch. I pretty much agreed with everything that was written about Garcia and just wanted to add it does happen to men too. Women with power can be just as bad wielding it the way some men do.
I don’t recollect you coming across as a real bitch. You’ve got a mind of your own and aren’t afraid to use it. Good for you! That’s as it should be.
Ha! Not at all, then again Mister/Missus Bates might disagree 🙂
Um #metoo has had men come out and say me too you know. Terry Crewes, Anthony Rapp are just two I can think of off the top of my head.
Ah. I did not know that Jess from California. Thanks for the reminder.
I think the #metoo did a lot of good, but then became big-headed with their self-importance. Perhaps this will take them down a notch.
Those who cast those stones shouldn’t live in glass houses. It ain’t just the men doing the diddlin’ ladies so don’t look in the mirror.