There are huge benefits to being part of this amazing community—so many people working together toward building a better, more equitable, more just America. We feed off each other’s energy and, as a result, regularly accomplish the impossible. I am blessed each and every day for being with you all.
I could wax poetic on the virtues of this community for thousands of words, but today I’m going to focus on some of its downsides—currently manifesting itself in the rash of execrable diaries attacking or slut-shaming women who have discussed their treatment at the hands of Sen. Al Franken and Rep. John Conyers.
And yes, execrable is exactly the right word.
Those diaries manifest some of the worst our community has to offer:
- Cult-of-personalities around people we respect, to the point that their defenders will go to any length to “protect” their heroes. And if that means attacking accusers, all’s apparently fair.
- Lack of empathy for people living different experiences than the authors.
- Tone-deafness to a certain people’s shared trauma. Most men haven’t been sexually harassed, but you have to be a special kind of asshole to look around, see the outpouring of revelations, and dismiss it snidely because it’s your guy who is in the crosshairs.
- Conspiracy mongering, acting as though there’s some kind of organized effort to take down Franken—when Franken has admitted to the alleged behavior!
- Rationalization and justification, always trying to find excuses to explain away such behavior. He’s a comedian! It’s old and the rules were different! Fuck that shit. Such behavior is unjustifiable. Period.
- Outright sexism. One diary literally engaged in slut-shaming. We can pretend that we’re better than the other side, but incidents like this prove otherwise. We have our own house to get in order.
There is no excuse for sexual harassment of any kind, whether it comes from Donald Trump, Roy Moore, or from inside our own tent. We don’t explain it away. We don’t rationalize it. We don’t excuse it. Rather, we make very clear that such behavior won’t be tolerated. IT ISN’T THAT FUCKING HARD, people!
Now there are legitimate debates around the issue. For example, should Franken resign? He’s apologized, his victim has accepted the apology, and has said she doesn’t want him to quit the Senate. Is that enough? Some might argue yes, others no, that we should have a zero tolerance policy for such behavior. That’s a legitimate debate.
But to call into question the veracity of the woman’s allegations (when there were photos!), and to question her propriety, and to try and drag her name through the mud—it was embarrassing and shameful seeing that come from within our own community.
So to be clear, there is some room for debate about how we handle the aftermath of these accusations, but slut-shaming and victim-blaming will not be tolerated, and will officially be sanctionable behavior. When discussing issues of sexual harassment and assault, what the accuser was wearing, what her sexual history might be, and whether she looked like she was “enjoying it” in some photo or video has zero relevance to the matter. The reason this behavior has hidden in the shadows for so long is because women don’t want to deal with the blowback, threats, ridicule, and further harassment going public entails. And if anyone tries to do this for nefarious purposes, the Project Veritas-Washington Post thing shows just how hard it is to fake it, especially with credible news organizations.
If we’ve learned anything these last couple of years, it’s that sexual abuse and harassment is downright common, and has been tolerated and excused for far too long. We’re long past the point of wondering whether accusers have some kind of nefarious motive for coming forward. The problem was the opposite—too many women afraid of speaking up. We’re thankfully evolving past that. We, as a society, will only be better for it.
I, personally, and we, as an organization, are proud to stand with women courageously speaking up for what’s right. It’s always easier to just keep quiet, and men have taken advantage of that power disparity to perpetuate this disgusting system—and those shitty diaries lent that system a solid assist. Utterly shameful.
Daily Kos will not help perpetuate the problem. We are part of the solution. And as such, we must hold ourselves to the highest standards.