By: Ed Brodow
ClashDaily Contributor
The Victorian Era in England and America was known for intolerant attitudes toward sexual matters. The Victorian standard of personal morality was simple: sex is taboo. People did not discuss sex and pretended they did not have sex. It was just dirty. Although Queen Victoria died in 1901, the prudish era named after her lasted well into the 1960s. (Why do you suppose that Ken and Barbie are missing their genitals?) From the 1960s until recently, we have experienced a period of sexual freedom and experimentation.
Well guess what. The good old Victorian Era is making a comeback. Courtesy of “MeToo,” anything remotely sexual is taboo once again. All attempts by men to manifest their natural sex drive can be interpreted as sexual misconduct and men are guilty until proven innocent. In fact, proof of innocence is irrelevant. Witch hunts against innocent men are common. The careers of public figures are destroyed by malicious rumors. Republican Senator Roger Wicker was “roundly criticized” when all he did was call some teenage pages “beautiful girls.” Aziz Ansari, a Muslim comedian (if there is such a thing), had a date with a woman who was excited to go out with him because he was a celebrity. When he attempted to have sex with her, she jumped at the opportunity but after the fact decided that she really wasn’t that sort of girl. This hypocritical woman’s charge of sexual misconduct may have destroyed Aziz’s career. His crime was that he initiated a consensual sexual encounter. Instead of being held accountable for her passive aggressive behavior, the girl gets a pass.
Stories like Ansari’s are scaring the hell out of men everywhere. Who wants to have sex under those conditions? It is too risky, and not just because of STDs.
The fallacy of MeToo is that most of what is being categorized as sexual misbehavior is merely the normal functioning of human beings. Leave it to the French to figure this out. A group of French women have composed an open letter to the Parisian newspaper Le Monde in which they expose MeToo for what it is. “Just like in the good old witch-hunt days,” the women say, “what we are once again witnessing here is puritanism … claiming to promote the liberation and protection of women, only to enslave them to a status of eternal victim and reduce them to defenseless preys of male chauvinist demons.”
The argument behind MeToo is that women are helpless victims of powerful men. What a distortion of reality. When it comes to sexual behavior, women enjoy power over men all day long…and well into the night. The woman makes the decision about whether or not to go out with a man. The man, on the other hand, is stuck in the rejection seat. He has to assume the risk of asking her, while she gets to reject him. Men are putting their egos on the line every day. They suffer from the insecurity that results from knowing that a man can be shot down by any woman. This anxiety is terrifying for many men. Except in cases of forcible rape, the woman also decides if a couple will have sex. He has the burden of asking, but once again she makes the decision. Remove the Harvey Weinsteins from the equation and the idea that men abuse their power is a sadistic feminist concoction.
“We defend a freedom to bother as indispensable to sexual freedom,” the French women continue. “Today we are educated enough to understand that sexual impulses are, by nature, offensive and primitive—but we are also able to tell the difference between an awkward attempt to pick someone up and what constitutes a sexual assault.” The “frenzy” to accuse men of wrongdoing, the women suggest, helps those who believe in a “Victorian moral outlook.” Men have been forced to resign from their jobs “when their only crime was to touch a woman’s knee, try to steal a kiss, talk about ‘intimate’ things during a work meal, or send sexually-charged messages to women who did not return their interest.”
Let me make something clear to adult women who are reading this article. If I touch your knee, it is not sexual abuse. If I tell you a dirty joke, it is not sexual abuse. If I attempt to kiss you, it is not sexual abuse. You are not a mannequin without means of resisting. You are a grown person with the option of telling me to get lost. And believe me, I will get lost unless my name is Harvey Weinstein. In that case, if you decide to tolerate my abusive behavior because you think it will further your career, please have the good taste to keep your mouth shut.
Here is the bottom line: If a man does something that offends you, give him the finger and get on with your life.
Ed Brodow is a political commentator, negotiation expert, and author of Tyranny of the Minority: How the Left is Destroying America.
Copyright © 2018 Ed Brodow. All rights reserved.
http://www.brodow.com
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