WebStamp March 07, 2018

#Me Too For All

The “Me To” movement, through Social Media, has recently created an explosion of sexual abuse and misconduct accusations by women against men of power and influence. Tarana Burke, an American civil rights activist, first used the phrase Me Too in 2006 to raise awareness of the pervasiveness of sexual abuse and assault in society. Alyssa Milano popularized it in 2017 by tweeting “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote 'Me too.' as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.” to encourage spreading an awareness campaign empowering woman through empathy.

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Many of these accusations are remnants of the last century when it was the norm to disavow incidences to preserve the status quo. We all grew up with these accepted values and practices of our period where male dominance, abuse of power, and sexual aggression was the norm. A whistle, an invitation to meet in the private, or a slap on the butt was an acceptable masculine way of saying I find you interesting and exciting back then. Now the old boss from years ago you disliked, who slapped a butt or forced a kiss under the mistletoe during a drunken stupor at a Christmas party, is being accused of sexual misconduct for just doing something stupid.

 Patrick Brown, the former Ontario PC leader, may have become one of these falsely accused victims with accusations of a decade ago. This may even have been a conspiracy to remove him from caucus. As Patrick was giving a press conference to refute the allegations, a tweet was sent out without his knowledge saying he was resigning. I am not saying whether he is guilty or not, but the trial was over before it began. What if our justice system worked that way, without weighing the evidence and sentencing the accused on the allegation? Whatever happened to Innocent Until Proven Guilty?

Canadians are all for gender equality and eliminating the prejudice and abuse associated with it, including those with equality between races and minorities. This new feminist movement has begun raising concerns about overreactions to minor and false transgressions.  Social Media has convinced many to quickly follow the correct side of sexual harassment and discard fairness and due process where good men may be undeservedly punished for their behavior.

Me Too is also affecting the workplace. Many companies are avoiding single private mix gender meetings and limiting travel between genders in fear of future retaliation. This over lingering fear affects productivity and may hinder the feminist cause with men backing away from working with women. The movement is a good one where women are seeking representation, visibility, and a voice. However, there is an overreaction or even an overcorrection, that needs to be tamed for this movement to be affective.

Many have grown up with the stereo typing of men and women, which reflects the way we perceive the way things are done. This lifestyle where the men provide the necessities and the women take care of the home has been slowly changing. For this change to be affective, men and women need to work together instead of persecuting each other. It seems that those few who have abused their power are the ones that are falling, which leaves the majority of men struggling to make amends. 

Men and women think differently because that is the way they are raised. To effectively make a change, you need to teach the younger generation the correct values to live by. Karl Marx said that Man is the Product of His Environment. Marx also states that the environment is not a mere collection of people, it is rather a social milieu in which men are bound up in definite relations and belong to distinct social groups. This Me Too movement should be more than women retaliating for past injustices, and instead of being one-sided, should include women and men working together to achieve equality for all, no matter the gender, race, or social group.

#Me Too For All

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Marinus (René) Verschuren
Marinus (René) Verschuren
Founder of WebStamp
René has been involved in the publishing and printing industry since the 1970s. He has published and distributed a successful 24-page weekly news advertiser with a circulation of 4400 copies. Also for the last 20 years, he has been a printer, plotter, scanner and 3D printer technician and installer. Since High School, he also has worked as a janitor, cabinet maker, building construction, landscaper/designer, computer operator producing microfiche, graphic artist, and webmaster, among many other professions. This qualifies him as a Jack-of-All-Trades with plenty of knowledge in many subjects.
Articles in this Issue
The “Me To” movement, through Social Media, has recently created an explosion of sexual abuse and misconduct accusations by women against men of power and influence. This Me Too movement should be more than women retaliating for past injustices, and instead of being one-sided, should include women and men working together to achieve equality for all, no matter the gender, race, or social group.
During a recent discussion on tiny house land-use bylaws with a WebStamp reader, I realized that a major roadblock to developing tiny lots is the current social perception that homeowners have thinking their property will diminish in value and degrade the community. This line of thinking comes from the last century where owning a large house made you respectable and living in a trailer park made you a lower-class citizen. In actuality, most of today’s mobile home parks are close-knit communities of respectable citizens with many having their own community association.
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