I am not a woman, nor can I claim to candidly empathize what women who have joined the #metoo movement are feeling. After all, I have a daughter and would do something crazy if I know anyone tries to take advantage of her womanhood. But there seems to be a dangerous trend to all these women coming out after decades that they were abused - careers of good people have been destroyed on these allegations. Some of them may be true and some are blatant lies. Men who live perpetually, preying on weak women because they are in a position of authority should not be spared, they should face the music. However, those who have lived a good life long enough should not be punished for their misstep when they were young or lived in another world. The most painful of the recent stories is that of Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, who is defending the right of the poor and has done an extraordinary job since he joined the US Senate. He will have to leave soon because of his alleged misconduct when he was a Comedian. People should be punished at the time when they have a misconduct, not decades after. Al Franken was a comedian, and these people live all kind of life. He turned his life around since and joined the Senate representing the snowy state of Minnesota. He is leaving not for abusing his position as a Senator but as a comedian - the first woman who accused him of forcefully kissing her said she does not think he should lose his job, others have come out to say he touched them before his Senate career, maybe or maybe not. An Arizona congress is leaving in Jan '18 because he discussed surrogacy with 2 of his female staffers - except there is more than meets the eye than is been circulated in the news, I do not see anything wrong in such request. Even Roy Moore's case, as controversial as it is, there is no evidence he has done anything as an adult or married man - why castigate him. If the statue of limitation is still probable for his action, he should face the music. He is innocent until proven guilty. The likes of Harvey Weinstein, the Roger Ailes, the Mike Louer, Bill O'Reilly, etc., all deserve their place in "hell" as Ivanka Trump called it, including her father, who by his own mouth confessed to molesting women a few years back. These are men who have stained other men. But some men are been punished when there is no compelling evidence.
The backlash of this is that women will begin to find it hard to secure positions with men. Who wants his reputation ruined by a potential female staffer? Men will begin to be wary of false allegation and temptation that may ensue for hiring a female staffer. My first female grad student started to lie about the direction of her research because I would not tolerate her insubordination and lazy approach to grad school. Immediately, I realized this behavior, I reported to my chair and started copying her on all my correspondent with the female student. I started collecting evidence of my interaction with her. I told my chair after she decided to quit that I was relieved she left because if she lied against me tomorrow, it will be difficult for me to fight without incurring some losses. I learned from an experience of a dear friend in my former church in Nigeria that some High school kids he was mentoring suddenly turned on him - he could not convince anybody otherwise. He was fired from his work and it is difficult for some people to believe he was innocent.
My point is that the society should be careful about how to handle this issue because it could have a negative impact on women taking their place in the workspace with men. There is an unspoken culture of workplace romance that exists everywhere - a lot of which is morally wrong but consensual. A nobody "tom" boy today, who was a "ladies man" in his youth, could become a victim of dishonest and greedy women tomorrow when he is holding the position of power. There should be a balance to this issue else the outcome could be counterproductive for the people we are trying to protect.
The backlash of this is that women will begin to find it hard to secure positions with men. Who wants his reputation ruined by a potential female staffer? Men will begin to be wary of false allegation and temptation that may ensue for hiring a female staffer. My first female grad student started to lie about the direction of her research because I would not tolerate her insubordination and lazy approach to grad school. Immediately, I realized this behavior, I reported to my chair and started copying her on all my correspondent with the female student. I started collecting evidence of my interaction with her. I told my chair after she decided to quit that I was relieved she left because if she lied against me tomorrow, it will be difficult for me to fight without incurring some losses. I learned from an experience of a dear friend in my former church in Nigeria that some High school kids he was mentoring suddenly turned on him - he could not convince anybody otherwise. He was fired from his work and it is difficult for some people to believe he was innocent.
My point is that the society should be careful about how to handle this issue because it could have a negative impact on women taking their place in the workspace with men. There is an unspoken culture of workplace romance that exists everywhere - a lot of which is morally wrong but consensual. A nobody "tom" boy today, who was a "ladies man" in his youth, could become a victim of dishonest and greedy women tomorrow when he is holding the position of power. There should be a balance to this issue else the outcome could be counterproductive for the people we are trying to protect.
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