Recently sexual harassment pushed itself to the forefront of the American Workplace. It even spawned its own hashtag on the Twitter social media platform, #MeToo.
We can make no mistake that sexual harassment is ugly, harmful, insidious and psychologically and physically damaging. There is only one surprising thing about the current sexual harassment firestorm, that it has taken so very long to emerge from the slime.
The person “to thank” for all of the current attention to the issue is Hollywood’s own Harvey Weinstein, a big-time mogul, serial rapist and abuser. His links to other actors, politicians and people in power have been astounding. However, the web of sexual, power and political entanglements has been convoluted at best. As the dominoes of the rich and famous began to fall, there were more questions than answers.
The Casting Couch
As it turns out, the jokes about the so-called Hollywood casting couch were true; truer than true. Here is where it all becomes confused. Certainly, as big shots like Weinstein fell, other executives in all walks of life fell. Men in Hollywood who were sexually harassing women also gave way to men who were sexually harassing men. Hollywood even turned on itself. Actresses who were sexually harassed went after other actresses who they said were aware of the harassment by the powerful for years.
It did not take long for sexual harassment in Hollywood to enter the world of politics. It affected Democrats as well as Republicans. Presidents were accused and Senators fell. It seemed, almost on a daily basis that some new (and powerful) executive, actor or politician was going down the ‘Walk of Shame.’
Though the news was overwhelmingly about the sexual harassment of women by powerful men, it did not take long before men started to point the finger at women. Old studies began to emerge that made the narrative even more confusing. For example, in 1994 The U.S. Merit System Protection Board, an independent government board did a study of sexual harassment claims. About 20% of all claims were men who claimed unwanted sexual harassment attention, and it was found that 65% of the men were harassed by women.
It has also come to light that the vast majority of sexual harassment cases where men are harassed by women are not reported. In fact, it may happen up to 80% of the time.
Kansas Democrat Andrea Ramsey
Recently in Kansas, Andrea Ramsey was running for the U.S. House race. Her past may have caught up with her as she was forced to drop over a 2005 federal lawsuit. Ramsey was accused of sexual harassment by a male employee at a company where she was formerly employed.
Ramsey mounted a vigorous denial, and in part said:
“Twelve years ago, I eliminated an employee’s position. That man decided to bring a lawsuit against the company (not against me). He named me in the allegations, claiming I fired him because he refused to have sex with me. That is a lie.”
The employee fired back:
“After I told her I was not interested in having a sexual relationship with her, she stopped talking to me. In the office she completely ignored me and avoided having any contact with me.”
Right, wrong or in-between, both parties dismissed the case in 2006, but it seems as though there is no statute of limitations on harassment claims. The allegations against Ramsey resurfaced late in 2017 as the Kansas City Star newspaper questioned Ramsey in regard to the charges. At the height of all of the sexual harassment back and forth, the national Democratic party declined to support Ramsey over the lawsuit.
She most recently made the following statement (please note the italics are mine):
“In its rush to claim the high ground in our roiling national conversation about harassment, the Democratic Party has implemented a zero-tolerance standard. For me, that means a vindictive, terminated employee’s false allegations are enough for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to decide not to support our promising campaign. We are in a national moment where rough justice stands in place of careful analysis, nuance and due process.”
Between the Lines
What strikes me about the bitterness of Andrea Ramsey’s statement is that its denial is remarkably the same as any of the powerful men who were suspected of sexual harassment. It is not an admission of guilt, but an expression of anger. It is the counter-offensive and it reaches back to childhood where the guilty child is caught stealing cookies.
In her statement, it seems clear that Ramsey is as clueless about the many facets of sexual harassment as are many other men and women in all other facets of life. Sexual harassment is an ethical issue and even in innuendo, it is what Andrea Ramsey does not understand. When ethics are called into play, politicians held in the public trust cannot survive.
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