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The METOO Movement....

I have always been a very strong, opinionated and aggressive woman. I have always tried walk the walk and talk the talk of a woman who will not be messed with. It may surprise people that I have a few #metoo stories - because people are under the assumption that we, as women, are in control of how we are perceived, treated, controlled (in some cases) and perhaps, abused (in many cases). I will share two of the more mild #metoo stories.

Story #1.

I was a college photographer, and it was my freshman year. There was a large outdoor frat party going on and I was walking around the outskirts of the cordoned off parking lot, watching the dancing and events unfold, camera in hand. I had a couple of beers before hand, but not at all drunk or inebriated. I stood, just watching the crowd when I had some drunk frat boy grab me and drag me to the side of the building. He pinned my hands to the wall and started to kiss me. I did try to pull away, but he pushed his body against mine, pinning me to the wall. As he let go of one of my wrist, to try and grope me, I elbowed him in the face, then he slapped me. I, then, brought the full force of my Nikon FM2 down onto his face, and got loose. I ran from the scene, and didn't shoot another greek event until about 5 years later.

Story #2

Couple of years ago, I was hired as a art director for a food company. The shadow CEO, the man who brought the company to the states from abroad, but didn't connected himself to the company legally hired me and we worked late together a few times, until his offhanded vulgarities and references to women's sexuality (and my own) made me avoid being alone with him. One of the last times we were alone together was in the temporary trailer set up as the offices were being renovated. It was late, and I had hurried to finish up some packaging branding. He was a short stout, boisterously vulgar Arab who swaggered and peacocked around continuously all day, day in and day out. He was of the mindset of being all powerful and could just about do anything he wanted to. I had gone into the smaller room where the printers were set up to get proofs. He had come in and shut the door behind him. He started toward me talking about my future and creativity and how I was an attractive woman and how attractive women get ahead because of their beauty. He came nearer and nearer asking if I thought he was attractive. I then, bristled and in no uncertain terms told him whatever he thought was going to happen here, WASN'T. He laughed and continued toward me. I told him I was going to scream if he didn't back off. He laughed and told me to go ahead. Then, thank fucking god, we heard the front door of the trailer open - it was the director of operations, and it diffused the whole situation. I shouted a "hey" to the op director, and got the hell out of there. About a week later, one of the office girls came to me with her story about this man coming on to her, and basically threatening her job if she didn't comply. I told her she should go to the police and report it. The shadow CEO went out the country that month, and didn't come back when he was scheduled to. Turns out she did report it and he was wanted for questioning her sexual assault charge. The sheriffs department came to interview me - turns out, she had told everybody about this and I was the only one who told her to go to the police. He had one office girl charge him with rape, and this other had sexual assault. He had stayed gone for about six months. I'm not sure what happened with either case because both women had left the company. When he came back, I made my departure after two weeks to the date of his return.

So. Those are the two stories I CAN tell in public.

It's not how women (or men) presents themselves, or if she deserves it, or she set herself up for it, or any other bullshit like that. Its the power that is held over them. It's the dynamic of the powerful against the powerless. I present myself as vulgar, aggressive and obscene, but all the #metoo stories happened when I was a proper professional, a woman who presented her self as proper, strong and as a professional. It's because I was seen as a thing and not as a person. A thing that could be grabbed, and a thing that could be subjugated. Probably it was even more appealing to be able to make submit an otherwise strong, mouthy woman - to conquer something, to bend something to your will. I don't know. I have met many strong, good men who are bosses, who are friends, who are colleagues, who are partners, who are lovers. And I have seen those who aren't good, who wield power (whether professional or personal) and revel in the unchecked abuse of their positions. I have had a few discussions about this of late, of how this has swelled into a witch hunt of sorts. I don't have a strong opinion of whether its a witch hunt or not. I do have my stories. I know others who have theirs. And I DO know, there shouldn't be so many stories from so many people.

onlyduh 7 Aug 3
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9 comments

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0

At onlyduh, i'm saying it shouldn't be as acceptable as it is now, and it could be reduced immensely because i don't believe that its as a powerful biological imperative as you think it is. Your words above. For what it is worth, i'm outraged by this behavior. Saying something shouldn't be acceptable is a hard sell when all the behavior has occurred, is occurring and, if history is any teacher, will continue to occur. How do you propose to reduce it? With all due respect, i must disagree that the biological imperative is not so powerful. When a male lion comes across a female with new cubs she is breastfeeding, he will kill the cubs for a number of reasons. The cubs are not his. Once dead, they no longer suckle and the female will become fertile again and receptive to the new dominant male who killed her cubs. He will now mate with her now passing on his genes. When any homeo sapiens tribe conquers another, the new dominant tribal males kill the vanquished males and children and married women as a rule keeping the virgins for themselves. This is even exquisitely spelled out in the old testament with regard to moses. Moses even wrote that his god was well pleased with his behavior. Do you think that moses could have been persuaded that his behavior was somehow incorrect or immoral? Good luck with that. Do you think harvey weinstein and donald trump think their attitudes toward women is not ok? I repeat. Please tell me how you think this behavior could be reduced"immensely"

0

at onlyduh, I won't enter into an argument with you, although I believe you gloss over what I posted. Read it closely again. The evidence is crushingly obvious, IMO, and the opinion of many. How do you explain the two kahns. It happened. Period!

Yes. Not all men are like that. Of course you know men who don't do that. So do I, but it doesn't erase what history has shown. Tell your opinion to the German women, native American women and all the black slaves.

0

Thank you for sharing, and I'm so sorry this happened to you and happens to women all the time, but I'm a little surprised by your statement that there shouldn't be so many stories. In reality, there are millions upon millions of these stories across history. As a doctor, a scientist and an audodidact in history, anthropology, biology, evolution and more, I have to say that this male dominance is par for the course, and that the lot of women and the female of many species is similar. You can read the bible where Moses was a mass rapist and he wrote god was well pleased after his tribe defeated the Amalakites and other tribes and the young virgins were always taken and given to the men and Moses took his share. Ghenghis and Kubla Kahn had hundreds of " wives" and it is known that thousands upon thousands of people have their genes. Unfortunately, it appears the historical lot of women was sexual assault and rape. The Vikings weren't simply patting women on the head when they conquered another people. Sally Hemings was 14 years old when Thomas Jefferson began his assault of her. Can anyone believe this was consensual on her part? It goes deeper. Homeo sapiens conquered all other human species such as Neanderthals by being the stronger and or more ruthless predator. The proof is that we are the only one left: homeo sapiens. And there is a pecking order among the males. Some more ruthless, than others. We have all met them. Trump is an example. I went to a private college replete with fraternities, and met many of these "type A" entitled men. Now that homeo sapiens is the only species left, we are left with the top dog type A predators fighting it out over resources and their predator genes fighting over the females. Lions do this. The most dominant males will kill the other males and kill the offspring of other males so the females will become receptive to mating with them.

In WW2 the Russian and American soldiers were notorious for raping the German women left unprotected at the end of the war. American soldiers did this in Viet Nam.

No witch hunt, but many men are like this My point? IMO, this is largely biological. In the genes. I don't have an answer for it, except for strong laws and a lot of good men to enforce those laws. I'm sure this will get some reaction.

0

Thank you for sharing. We, as men, don't often hear or acknowledge these types of stories. We tend to think of them as isolated events and push them from our minds. I think we need to have this discussion. We need to recognize that this happens often and we need to become part of the solution.

0

Too many stories... I'm not sharing any of mine, but I believe confident strong women are seen as trophies at times.

0

It never stops. I have 100+ stories and even just last week was told by a man that he would invest in my company IF we “were involved”. I’m 51 years old and this shit has been happening since I was a teenager. I’ve come to the conclusion that this is never going to stop or get better.

@onlyduh I think the male half of the population is pre-wired and programmed to abuse power....we have 2000+ years of governments and businesses across whole continents and all types of countries and religions....and every single one has been dominated by men who subject women (keeping them pregnant and in the home) to oppression and abuse. There has never been a male dominated society/government/religion which, at it's core, did not exploit and use women.

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Have told my stories here previously but have a few of my own - family and work related. I was first molested by my male cousin before puberty. My parents insisted I made it up and to this day deny it ever happened. One of my early bosses used to pat me on the butt even though I was married and thought of me as a daughter. During my sales management career I worked with my Drake Bakeries drivers all the time on delivery trucks with managable situations but one of my cohort workers, depot manager used to be sexually suggestive with me one too many times as a divorcee so I reported him. I got fired for not cooperating with fellow employees. That was 25 years ago. Nothing I could do at the time except get another job. Times have changed. Glad you fought back duh.

I was physically and emotionally abused by my parental units as well. Physical abuse ensued in my relationships till I broke the pattern 9 years ago.

0

sorry to read that.

2

I hope you didnt hurt your Nikon when you slammed the asshole with it.

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