Men Say …
Men use similar tropes on why #MeToo may go too far. It’s time to break these down.
It’s time for more men to start saying, “enough is enough,” “I believe her,” and “I will step out of my comfort zone and speak up so that others feel empowered to follow me.”
Men will make mistakes. But mistakes are much better than silence. Mistakes are better than condoning misconduct, harassment, bias or abuse.
I find myself fighting indifference even on some company boards where misconduct has occurred, been identified and has been swept under the rug of being “a gray area.” As a board member, sadly you don’t always have the power alone to act on your own and your motives can be questioned, too. Founder CEOs can have more power than you might imagine.
In any event, I was reflecting on Twitter tonight about the disappointing and SHOCKING (to me) stories I read tonight and this week about Russell Simmons, Salma Hayeck’s op ed about Harvey Weinstein, potential misconduct by Tavis Smiley that follows Charlie Rose, Matt Lauer, Louis CK, Shervin Pishevar and so many others that my head is going to explode. The stories about Dustin Hoffman — so hard to read about how he tormented this young woman and made her life miserable.
Every day when I see names “trending on Twitter” I think to myself, “Oy. Did they die or harass?” That’s my starting point. Do you find yourself having the same thought?
I suppose all this has done is shine a light on what so many women have known their whole lives and with this cloud lifted I feel unable to shut up. So my rant on Twitter …
Photo on Visual Hunt: Photo by Drriss & Marrionn on VisualHunt / CC BY-NC-SA
