-
Pearlie posted an update 6 years, 4 months ago
In the midst of the Hollywood meltdown over sexual harassment I have noticed that, so far, all the accused offenders are men; nearly all are accused of heterosexual harassment – trying to pressure women (especially those intent on a show business career) to copulated with them, and, so far, a very very few (Keven Spacey, George Takei) accused of attempting some sort of homosexual overtures. But, so far, no women have been accused, none at all.
Yet a significant amount of lesbian lit (e.g. the stories in On Our Backs) present scenes in which a lesbian in authority (often a teacher or sports trainer) pressures a younger woman into … well, you guessed it. That seems to be a recurring theme and it seems to be a very common lesbian fantasy. Yet, from the total omission of such accusations in this current feeding frenzy, it would appear this has never happened in real life.
Which is more likely true: That no power-lesbian ever was inappropriate, or that there may be a closetful of cases waiting to explode?
Well, maybe that’s because with lesbians you can hardly get any pleasure if your partner is not a willing participant. Or maybe because many staright woman have a very common fantasy about sex with a woman, so they do not complain afterwards :)
Sexual assault and harassment are not about sex, they are about power and control. When in a position of power, it can be very tempting to misuse it and abuse people around you. Why? Because you can. While I believe men as a whole are more aggressive by nature and more likely to abuse their power, women are not immune to those temptations. I think it would be naive to believe that no power-lesbian was ever inappropriate. The next logical question is why aren’t we hearing about them? Any thoughts?
Oh, you are so deep and considerate as usual that I feel shy to comment ) But tell me, aren’t these people in a position of power have enough power and control as it is? Maybe it’s still about sex for them, but being satiated with it they seek more and more challenge? Why we do not hear about power lesbians abusing young and innocent… I’m not a USA resident, so I don’t know the realia there, but I can asume that a) there aren’t too many top lesbians in show business b) it’s not a fashion trend to kiss and tell about having same-sex seduction.
I can offer my amateur theories about why men act the way they do. It is my opinion (although many may disagree) that lesbians in show business are more ‘out’ and recognizable as such than gay men, and there seem to be a good number of identified lesbians on both sides of the camera. And, so far, the stories of sexual harassment are almost all coming from the unwilling targets, so presumably a straight woman would not be more reluctant to tell of fending off a lesbian’s overtures than she would be to tell of fending off a man’s harassment.
Exactly! from unwilling targets! Do you mean that lesbians in authority are just more careful in choosing a target?
I wrote a lengthy response to these messages but when I was finished the website refused to accept it because it claimed I used an “objectionable word”. It wouldn’t tell me what/where the word was. and my response was written in language I could use in Sunday School. So I am going to break up my response into shorter messages ……
I am baffled why no woman has been outed in this frenzy. Not just a lesbian but even a member of the het set (yes, there have been sexual harassment cases about such women). At the same time, even though (I think) most women are smiling inwardly that “Now men are finally getting punished”, this can have its own downside. Right now the men we hear being fired and disgraced are prosperous and can afford, more or less, to retire immediately. But if this spreads deep into the business world it may mean enormous numbers of men suddenly unemployed. It’s easy to say “They all deserved it”, but large numbers unemployed for any reason can be bad news. And those men who still have their jobs may want to avoid “situation” by adopting Mike Pence’s policy of never being alone with a woman – not even to discuss business; this will effectively make the glass ceiling double-thick and even lower.
Couldn’t agree with you more, Pearlie, about the glass ceiling. My mother always told me that the best disinfectant is the light of day, and this reckoning is long overdue. However, in male-dominated industries, a natural response will be to not let women into the inner circles. What is the remedy? I can think of more than a few, but for me, it comes down to constant effort and constant vigilance. Effort by all women to not only chip away at that ceiling but also to teach our young girls that ceilings are meant to be broken. And finally, vigilance by all women to never give up. We are stronger and more capable than we think, especially when we support one another.
There have been a number of comments (mostly from men) to the effect that hardly a man in America has not done, at some point after his 12th birthday, something “inappropriate” … anything from frat-boy to felonious … so right now it is possible that just about every male in America is nervous that some past sin will be brought to light. Anyway, those who are not found out in the next year or so may adopt protective processes to avoid “situations” that could lead to any further accusations, either true or false.
These protective processes could include Mike Pence-style rules against unchaperoned meetings with women employees or even women executives. It could even extend to a (secret) policy to keep women out of the executive suites, not only as executives but also as assistants, interns, apprentices, etc. In short a sort a wall that keeps women in low levels of employment. It will reduce the chances of women’s exposure to a boss’s casting couch but also reduce their chances of their getting big paychecks. In short, the current clean-up of men’s bad behavior could have after-effects with a downside. And No, I don’t have a solution.
I am not the only person who is worried about a dark cloud attached to this silver lining. Mia Kirschner tweeted this article from the New York Magazine, from the Nov. 13th issue (I tried linking this but the website wouldn’t let me) which included this comment: “A powerful white man losing a job is a death, and don’t be surprised if women wind up punished for the spate of killings.” Well, I wasn’t thinking of celebrity men, just a lot of business men and working men who will lose their jobs – meaning a lot of unemployment, taking their wives and children down with them. And a lot more men very worried that their inappropriate behavior will catch up with them. And from this point on many (maybe most) men will henceforth try to avoid “situations”.