Al Franken and sexual harassment: The haunting scandal

So he resigned.  True, he did it with a metaphorical gun to the back of his head.  By having him removed, have women achieved any enduring progress against the universal problem of sexual harassment and men hatred of women? Of course not. Actually, they have actually lost by having him removed. Now people are going to be wary of complaints of sexual harassment in politics.It may be the end of the issue in the public media.

Let me elaborate, for this problem entails at least two different but overlapping aspects: politics and culture. [Grammar police needs a warrant to enter this blog.]

First consider that Congress is not your neighborhood. Congress is the house where politics live. Whatever happens there to affect the elected politicians is done with the purpose of influencing politics and policy. We all know that, don’t we?

What makes you think that the media denouncing  Trump and Moore as perverts has anything to do with protecting women? Nothing. It has to do with power struggle to pass policies unrelated to the oppression of women here or worldwide. The victimization of women is being used as a political weapon; that’s all there is to it. Evidence? How many laws have been passed or proposed to curb the issue of sexual harassment at large? If women were to try to enact policy in that direction, the media-owner-men would be the first to attack the effort, surreptitiously of course; they never do it in their personal character.

Is the problem  of sexual harassment always a problem of an individual perpetrator? Yes and no.

It is a personal issue when we deal with it in the general society. We accuse and take to court a perpetrator, or try to and mostly fail So women need LEGAL POLICIES that help them protect themselves. For that they have to go to Congress.

Al Franken, as complicated a human being as we all are, is a perpetrator AND a supporter of women issues, and in a position to help women pass POLICIES. You have to weight THAT when you deal with him. Sorry, but this issue is not ALWAYS black or white; nothing is in this life.

CULTURE

Look, the problem of  male hatred of women is universal. Not all men hate women, many are supporters. But the problem is universal, is part of our culture;  which means that you CAN’T go around trying to put in prison every man who hates women and acts on it. It is with this realization that the problem moves from the cultural to the political: you have to empower women, not use their victimization as political tool to benefit men who stand against women. You see, it’s a complicated issue. The Moores and  Trumps of the world have no problem admitting they are perverts. They are confident in their power. And it works for THEM.

You can’t deal with the issue from the perspective of each person if you want to fix the problem.

Humans are complicated, men more than any other humans. They want virginal wives but fantasizes of slutty ones. Go figure. Anyway….

The victimization of women has been used against women for political purposes. The problem remains unsolved and unaddressed. All you have achieved is removing a man who could probably be ‘re-educated’. Have you considered that? Not all crimes are the same in degree.

Women. You need to wise up. You have been used, victimized twice. The solution is becoming a problem. It’s going to turn into a ghost haunting women for the next 100 years: a missed opportunity to enact political policies to empower women of the next generation. The problem is not Al Franken; is women powerlessness. Only politics gives you power.

Start developing a political approach to this political problem. Organize and develop policies to protect yourselves, and then scorch the earth to secure the passage of said policies.