I know I’m not alone when I say that I have been dealing with unwanted sexual advances since I was 9 and started developing breasts. I’ve had several boys and men show me their genitals, beg me for sexual favors, etc. we’re taught that this is normal and there are heavy implications in this particular socialization…

This is true. My ex is a pedophile. Two kids have come forward, and he pled guilty in court to molesting one of them. He’ll serve no jail time and will not be on the sex offender registry. Yet the courts will not give me custody of my child because they believe I’m Wiccan, which I’m not.

Looking at headlines this morning I saw a comment I needed to bring in here. Weinstien’s headline from his apology “We all make mistakes”. Dude needs to be punched in the face for that.

Hey All, Samantha Bee has some choice words:

I’m glad that you experienced some modicum of justice, and I agree that generally we have strength in numbers and the more we report this behavior, the better, even if someone else’s saga with harassment doesn’t work out as well as yours did, because eventually we will hopefully reach some kind of critical mass. But I…

there are a lot of survivors out there with PTSD that are having a really tough go of the Trump presidency. Knowing that we have a perpetrator in chief, and that millions of your neighbors knew exactly who he was and elected him anyway, is really, really hard to handle when you’ve got PTSD on your plate, even if…

Believe them? Also, when stories like this come out, stop trying to deflect blame from abusers by victim blaming (like what you’re doing now)?

I’ve been raped three separate times. I’ve been to the police on every occasion. On two I knew my attacker and on one I had a rape kit and gave the identity of the person. None of it got as far as charges laid, despite basically handing the police the thing on a platter time and again. I’d say tons of women just…

“He will coerce you to do a thing or two.”

Your experience had a positive outcome. Great. My experience when I reported, and the experiences of other people I know, most definitely did not, therefore I have a bit more empathy for the people who are dealing with this kind of garbage. It’s hard to be alone, scared, and ashamed and facing unemployment and worse.…

Reading some of these stories reminded me on the essay in the UTNE READER decades ago, about how it would be easier to convict a man of exposing himself than committing rape. If you just tell the cops, “he flashed me and played with himself” nobody gets to ask you what you were wearing, was this a shakedown, etc.…

It was a punch in the gut and a slap in the face. It felt like being victimized all over again. A confirmation of everything I had told myself about why I didn’t pursue charges, why I didn’t speak up, why I internalized my hate.

I literally just spoke up. About 15 minutes ago.

Precisely. Reactions to a story like this set a precedent. If women are believed, more women will feel comfortable coming forward when it happens to them. However, and how it usually goes, if women are blamed, it impacts how everyday people react when it happens to them. They think, “If these Hollywood stars aren’t…

They had everything to lose and nothing to gain. Imagine how it must be to victims everywhere when America voted in an abuser to the highest office in the land.

My mother went to American University in Beirut for medical school in the early 90s. There was one associate dean (who had been working there for nearly 20 years and was basically a legend in his field) who only invited female students to his house on weekends/holidays for dinner. Everyone just said it was his way of…

i’ve suddenly developed this new thing where i throw up into my mouth every time i hear or read the word “massage”.

It’s not by a long shot. His M.O. is painfully familiar to anyone who’s done any work with sexual harassment law. This is textbook quid pro quo harassment, and you see the same pattern over and over: powerful men taking advantage of usually younger women who aren’t in a good position to resist or fight back. Getting…

Women did speak up, at the time. One Italian actress went to the police and he admitted it to the prosecutor and it was still buried. As was said here a memo was circulated about his behavior.

As you say, these men are running the world. What good does it do to speak up, in most cases?