Sixteen

Dicey stuff here – a guy writing about the sexual harassment and assault claims coming out of the woodwork, where they lay smoldering for years and years until the unmasking of Harvey Weinstein kindled them into the fire that is burning down some big names from the formerly sainted Charlie Rose to the cracker teeny-chaser Roy Moore. Jeez, and even Garrison Keillor, another media saint.

Where do I stand here? Have I been among them? Yes, because I didn’t take no for an answer once. I wasn’t physical, but I didn’t let up. Alcohol was involved, but that’s no excuse.

When I was editor of a so-called “underground” paper I slept with several women writers and other women involved with the paper, but I don’t really think my position had much to do with it; it was all part of sex, drugs, and rock and roll back then. It was also part of the “underground” scene. There was certainly no coercion. We liked each other and so to bed.

One of my ex-wives has made the excellent point that there are certainly degrees of sexual harassment as it is being examined now, from the mostly stupid of Al Franken to the totally exploitive assaults of Weinstein to the creepiness of Moore, which goes past harassment to pedophilia.

The reasons these women kept these abuses to themselves have been rehearsed again and again, and need not be repeated here. Suffice to say that the list of “alleged” abusers speaks for itself in terms of men using whatever powers they have or think they have to gain sexual favors from women more or less at their mercy in terms of careers and financial security.

The Leers

Some of these men might be called “casual predators,” taking time from their self-important positions to demand what they consider the sexual “perks” of their success. They are everywhere, of course, and seemingly always have been.

But that is changing fast and in a big way among the big shots. Unfortunately, there could be some collateral damage to men accused baselessly and tried in the kangaroo court of a scandal-hungry media.

Yet I wonder what is happening out of the celebrity spotlight. Are there grass-roots abusers being outed? Are women at all stages of life coming forward to address and accuse men who have harassed or assaulted them? And, if they are, what is being done – or is the infamous “old boys network” holding true and fast to its abysmal history of enablement? Is it still “boys will be boys” out there in this dismal swamp of Trump’s America?

And what about the sixteen women who have accused Trump himself of harassment and outright assault? If I was one of these women I would be dizzy with fury now.

All it seems Trump had to do when the accusations came out in all their shameful details was put them off with, “It’s all lies. It’s all made up. No one has more respect for women than I do.” Case closed. Even now. Even with this maelstrom of bigtime outings.

These women have every legal and moral right to have these accusations examined and vetted by one of the committees that Al Franken wants to examine his accusations.

If Robert Mueller and his band of Impeachment Gypsies can’t take this pig down, it would be the cruelest and most fitting of ironies that Trump was finally laid low by his self-proclaimed pussy-grabbing in all its typical lowlife grubbiness. (And no, President Pig, it is not “fake news” as you now claim because you already apologized for it. Or was your apology fake news, too?)

Does this Presidential shit never end?