My thoughts on the #MeToo Movement

A lot has happened since October when Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexually assaulting women. The sheer scope of his actions throughout his career shocked a lot of people and started a process of women coming forward with stories about abuse of power and sexual assault in all kinds of professions. There is currently no end in sight and new stories and allegations are coming out practically every week and that’s a good thing. It’s Important to keep the discussion going and not have it buried or slowly forgotten and have the same practices keep going.

First things first, I’m all for victims coming forward and telling their stories. The current climate changed so drastically that victims shouldn’t be afraid of repercussions. BUT at the same time like every movement, people or piggy-pack-riders see this as an opportunity to destroy someone just in spite and makeup accusations. The way the issue is handled on social media makes this actually very easy because the saying innocent until proven guilty has no merit there.

It’s easy but dangerous to jump on a hate bandwagon and write mean things about someone and by doing that destroying their lives when in fact we have no idea if what’s been said is true. That is up to the courts to decide where people get convicted and send to jail or be found innocent. There have been cases where people accused of rape have been found innocent but through the whole process lost their job and will have a hard time finding some sort of normal life again. Two examples come to my mind, Jörg Kachelmann and Andreas Türk. I’m not saying that every popular figure now accused of sexual assault is innocent, far from it, but we have to be careful with destroying lives.

The other issue I’m having with it is creating an environment for people where they are too scared to approach someone in fear of getting labeled as a sexual predator. Now that’s a tricky one that might get misunderstood. Groping someone, force kissing someone is all not fun and should be stopped, but on the other hand, kissing someone for the first time is never arranged with an agreement from both parties, it’s a gamble, you get closer to the person, press your lips together, close your eyes and go for it. Something like that should still be possible. The other person can deny the kiss, softly push back and that should be the end of it. What I’m trying to say is, we shouldn’t make a 180 now create a world without any physical contact out of fear of repercussions.

So let me end today’s entry on a lighter note, with a quote from the best Comedy Show on TV Right now.

Kissing is gross. You just mash your food holes together. It’s not for that.

Michael, The Good Place S02E10