The History
The MeToo movement began in 2006, but it did not gain popularity until October 2017, following an allegation of sexual harassment against Harvey Weinstein by Alissa Milano. Later on, it became one of the most popular hashtags on social media, turning into a worldwide phenomenon. because of this, numerous male employees and careers have been destroyed, along with the shame of being socially awkward. Is this, however, the end of the story?
Whether we are talking about social media outlets, or TV, or our private lives, we are constantly bombarded with talks on toxic masculinity.
The nature of consent, once it was women against men who abused their political/social power, then it was against men of all age groups, and then there was a divide between women themselves, liberal vs conservative, some would say that the MeToo movement has overplayed itself, and had gone too far, some argued that the movement should go even longer.
Thus causing a social divide that went from inter-sexual to intra-sexual, it was an unexpected divide amongst feminists, some of them wanted the movement to proceed with caution, the others simply didn’t want to stop, but the biggest complaint about the movement was that it lost its meaning very quickly, as it included some things that were way too benign and simple to warrant being called sexual harassment, some women suggested other women should toughen up, that the women who perceive themselves as weak and victimized are the ones causing all the problems, this is the older feminist camp, while the younger feminists were overly passionate, righteous, or simply aggressive and out to hunt men and destroy their lives.
When it comes to sexual assault allegations, there’s a major social rift that’s being created between men and women in today’s society, whether it’s in relationships or the workplace, there is quite a lot to unpack here, regarding the problems with the MeToo movement, starting from:
The Gender Bias
It is in our nature to believe women and be more protective of them, regardless of the situation at hand, men are at a clear disadvantage when it comes to divorce, and allegations, even false ones, when it comes to the law, men have the short end of the stick, and having an allegation of sexual harassment in your history, is already socially crippling, regardless of the verdict
That is why the majority of men avoid corporations, institutions, and marriage; women are simply seen as a sign of potential danger, especially given that all statistics indicate that the majority of sexual harassment allegations are false and that the definition of sexual harassment has evolved over time.
Men are put in danger because even a fake claim of sexual harassment can damage a man’s reputation and end his job, so what did men do? Men have mostly abandoned society, a society that abandoned them first; as a result, they withdraw to pornography and video games and labor barely to survive.
Who Has The Advantage?
Before the MeToo movement was a global movement, it was centered around Hollywood celebrity drama, with people who lead a life so extravagant and different from ours, their lives are not to be replicated, their rules do not apply for us, there’s Hollywood, and then there’s the real world.
Keeping up with the Joneses is more than just finances, the whole veneer of drama also follows, on the other hand, studies have shown that the primary beneficiaries of allegations are the ones who are more likely to be believed, white petite women are the popular stereotype for conventionally attractive feminine women, thus leaving every other type of women to clean up their mess, whatever woman does not fit into that physical prototype would have a hard time being believed when actual harassment happens to her and she ends up deciding to report it.
The Ever-growing Gender Divide
Books like The Peter Principle highlight the depth of separation between the sexes outside and inside the workplace, men are simply scared of turning down women due to possible repercussions, which is being alone with women even in a business setting.
Peter himself refused to be left alone with a woman inside a closed meeting chamber to discuss business unless his own wife is present with them, this has caused plenty of career-oriented women to comment on the extreme measures that are taken by Peter, but on the other hand, no one dared accuse him of any sort of sexual harassment, he was operating lawfully and protecting himself at the same time.
Men, in general, are avoiding corporations, opting out and gravitating more towards trades, most men already know full well that a male boss will not risk his social position and doubt the woman that would make the accusation, firing the accused man directly is less costly, and it is a measure taken to protect the social image of the corporation.
The MeToo movement may seem to empower when taken at face value, but to every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction, this movement is already doing damage to the workplace, relationships, marriage rates, and men’s withdrawal from women and the government.
How This Affects Women?
Because a minority of women have been responsible for a lot of bad actions, the majority of women will end up having to pay for those actions, women that do not fall under the category of “conventionally feminine” are less likely to be believed or taken seriously, it is discriminatory treatment, people assume based on sex and physical appearance that one group of people are more likely to be victimized than another group, the reason why this makes little sense is because it corrupts the justice system, the only way to truly have a just and effective system is to disregard gender and ethnicity completely when assessing a sexual assault or harassment case.
Overall, the meter movement had disproportionately helped a certain specific group of women at the cost of hurting most others, most women are not white Hollywood actresses, and therefore the law may be protecting one group above other groups, it’s a bias in human nature, a protective bias for the most feminine looking women, at the expense for others, and if you’re not going to be believed, then you’re going to be silenced.
How Women Are Divided?
The social backlash that came from me too movement has caused a generational division among feminism, some would even call it a fight between mothers and daughters, it is a case of
two camps that may have the same common goal, but they go about it in two completely different ways.
If we only look at the arguments presented by both of these groups, it would be clear that the two of them take a completely different approach to what would be considered harassment, sexism, and sexual assault, and they have two completely different ideas on how these problems need to be solved, while one approach is individualistic and self-sufficient, the other one is a community-based approach, relying on solidarity between women, thus causing a clash between the two camps, which is admittedly a very interesting philosophical topic.
