The anti-#MeToo backlash seems to have settled on a preferred talking point. For instance, the Toronto police ruled out charges after 30 women reported sexual assault by a former RCMP doctor.
"The Toronto Police Service does not dispute that these women felt (and continue to feel) violated," said police spokesperson Meaghan Gray in an email Tuesday. However, she said investigators reviewed medical standards at the time and determined there is a lack of evidence "to prove there was a sexual purpose" to the doctor's exams.
This rang a bell. A few weeks ago Skydance Animation hired John Lasseter, who had been forced out of Disney/Pixar after a years-long pattern of harassment. From Skydance’s statement:
“While we would never minimize anyone’s subjective views on behavior, we are confident after many substantive conversations with John, and as the investigation has affirmed, that his mistakes have been recognized,”
In December 2017, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock put up a confessional Facebook post about an incident in college, after the woman had already said no and pushed him off her:
“She said she didn’t want to have sex, so we laid together, and talked, and kissed, and laughed, and then we started having sex.”
When the woman then started to cry Spurlock said that he “didn’t know what to do. We stopped having sex and I rolled beside her. I tried to comfort her. To make her feel better. I thought I was doing ok, I believed she was feeling better. She believed she was raped.”
The pre-#MeToo defense — that women routinely invent rape/harassment/abuse charges for funsies, because we’re just evil scheming bitches — has become a harder sell these days. Especially since one woman coming forward is usually followed by several others. So the current talking point is that women’s experiences are just feelings, all inside our little heads.
This was the out used by Susan Collins and other Republican Senators at the Brett Kavanaugh hearings: They weren’t calling Dr. Ford a liar, gosh no, no doubt the little lady believed she was assaulted by Brett Kavanaugh — but what if she somehow only imagined it was him? I know the term “gaslighting” gets used a lot, but this is what it’s for: telling women not to believe out lying eyes.
As always, this diary is a group effort. Thanks to Besame, officebss, ramara, elenacarlena, Angmar, BMScott, noweasels, and the WOW crew for links and discussion.
Reproductive Rights:
Absolutely heartbreaking story from a woman who wishes she’d had a late-term abortion rather than giving birth to a daughter whose multiple congenital conditions gave her a few short, painful months of life.
Handbook for a Post-Roe America.
Violence:
After the recent scandals, Sady Doyle argues that the Catholic church is in dire need of women in leadership.
Here’s another large-scale scandal of a church mishandling abuse allegations. This time, it’s the Southern Baptist denomination, with at least 700 victims over 20 years.
The name got turned into an uncomfortable punchline in the 90’s, but the Amazon series tells Lorena Bobbit’s story of the abuse that led up to her infamous act.
Woman sues nightclub over sexual assault that was livestreamed on Facebook.
Embassy Suites in Des Moines settled a lawsuit by a woman who was sexually assaulted while staying there on a business trip. She rebuffed the man’s advances at the bar, he waited until she left, and:
Police later learned that LaPointe had asked the front desk for and been given a key to Marchionda's room, without being asked to show proof that he was registered to the room or even a hotel guest. When he had trouble getting in because Marchionda had engaged the door's safety latch, LaPointe convinced a maintenance worker to disable it, telling the worker he had had a fight with his "girlfriend" and she had locked him out of the room.
And the latest mass shooting has a familiar detail:
Workplace Issues:
The women who contributed to science but were buried in footnotes.
Several senior French journalists have been suspended or fired for allegedly co-ordinating online harassment through a private Facebook group.
Several women say musician Ryan Adams offered help with their music careers, then pursued them sexually and retaliated when they spurned him. Adams denies the allegations, which include creepy sexting with an underage girl. He’s offered the standard weaselpology to “anyone I ever hurt, however unintentionally.” Once again, there’s no way to know how many women were driven out of the industry because they didn’t think sexual coercion should be part of the job.
Election:
“A woman, just not that woman” — This NY Times article on sexist coverage of candidates makes a lot of good points, but somehow misses the Times’s own contributions to that problem in 2016. Amanda Marcotte analyzes the sexist trope of women politicians never being perceived as “authentic.”
Kirsten Gillibrand’s unabashedly feminist campaign. I haven’t settled on a candidate yet, it’s just great to see so many powerhouse women and people of color making the race look very different from what we’ve seen before.
Health:
Expert Task Force Says Perinatal Depression Can Be Prevented.
Full Frontal on fat-shaming:
Uncategorizable:
Apple and Google are being urged to remove an app used in Saudi Arabia that allows male “guardians” to track women.
Good News:
In 2018, women and people of color starred in top movies.
And I just freaking love this:
Be sure to check out WOW2 for some amazing women’s history!