#MeToo - is it just different for men and women?

the issue here is it now seems that simply making an advance towards a woman is being classed as some kind of sexual harassment. Society seems to insist that men make the move but we are now treating people making a move as some kind of sex pest.

This is true I think, and I have no desire to downplay what is alleged to have transpired both in and out of Parliament over the last X number of years.
Every guy on this Forum who is in a heterosexual relationship, at one time probably had to initiate a “move” toward the woman that he’s with now, of course, some fortunate men were ‘hit on’ by their ladies, but for the most part, it’s normally a man who makes some kind of move to get a woman’s attention.
With me it was weak line in a pub, I turned to a group of girls and said to one in particular, “10.25”, she looked at me with raised eyebrows, and I said, “Oh sorry, I thought I heard you ask what the time was”
She, like all her friends, knew that that was complete horsefeathers, but seeing that I wasn’t so bad, (as she told me a long time later), she responded with a smile, and I ran with it from there, and we’re still together to this day.
Had I been an unshaven bum with yellow teeth and a dirty shirt, who leered at her, “Fancy a drink babes?”, she, a betting shop cashier from Peckham, would have very likely told me to “F.O., you ugly s.o.b.”
What I’m trying to convey, is that a harmless ice-breaker, especially when the woman recognises that it’s just that, should not put the guy breaking the ice into the sex pest bracket.
 
Just for a laugh, I googled "all women are victims". I half-knew what the result would be before I typed it.

There is a *prevailing* view in society now that yes, all women *are* victims. That they are victims even if they don't identify as victims.

There were at least two articles saying, "All men must share in guilt for cases like Weinstein's, whether they are harassers or not, because they have the power our male-dominated society."

There were plenty saying that western democracies are all patriarchies, meaning "women are victims by default".

There was a discussion on Mumsnet saying "If you support the hashtag #NotAllMen, you are a male rape apologist." Because apparently, the idea that not all men are rapists is mutually exclusive with taking actual rape seriously.

Plenty of people saying that "violence is almost exclusively a male trait" - despite this being factually and scientifically disproved.

Frankly it seems more and more like lunacy for anyone who isn't Brad Pitt, to think about flirting with any woman. It seems these days that if you have any kind of flirtatious encounter with a female you're a sex pervert, a harasser, and a criminal. Not to mention part of the patriarchy and part of the problem.

Where do we go from here? More victimisation culture; more PC?
 
Just for a laugh, I googled "all women are victims". I half-knew what the result would be before I typed it.

There is a *prevailing* view in society now that yes, all women *are* victims. That they are victims even if they don't identify as victims.

There were at least two articles saying, "All men must share in guilt for cases like Weinstein's, whether they are harassers or not, because they have the power our male-dominated society."

There were plenty saying that western democracies are all patriarchies, meaning "women are victims by default".

There was a discussion on Mumsnet saying "If you support the hashtag #NotAllMen, you are a male rape apologist." Because apparently, the idea that not all men are rapists is mutually exclusive with taking actual rape seriously.

Plenty of people saying that "violence is almost exclusively a male trait" - despite this being factually and scientifically disproved.

Frankly it seems more and more like lunacy for anyone who isn't Brad Pitt, to think about flirting with any woman. It seems these days that if you have any kind of flirtatious encounter with a female you're a sex pervert, a harasser, and a criminal. Not to mention part of the patriarchy and part of the problem.

Where do we go from here? More victimisation culture; more PC?

Victimhood is a powerful drug.
 
Just for a laugh, I googled "all women are victims". I half-knew what the result would be before I typed it.

There is a *prevailing* view in society now that yes, all women *are* victims. That they are victims even if they don't identify as victims.

There were at least two articles saying, "All men must share in guilt for cases like Weinstein's, whether they are harassers or not, because they have the power our male-dominated society."

There were plenty saying that western democracies are all patriarchies, meaning "women are victims by default".

There was a discussion on Mumsnet saying "If you support the hashtag #NotAllMen, you are a male rape apologist." Because apparently, the idea that not all men are rapists is mutually exclusive with taking actual rape seriously.

Plenty of people saying that "violence is almost exclusively a male trait" - despite this being factually and scientifically disproved.

Frankly it seems more and more like lunacy for anyone who isn't Brad Pitt, to think about flirting with any woman. It seems these days that if you have any kind of flirtatious encounter with a female you're a sex pervert, a harasser, and a criminal. Not to mention part of the patriarchy and part of the problem.

Where do we go from here? More victimisation culture; more PC?

It's hardly a prevailing view. Sadly there are some people that do hold that view - and these people self-identify as liberals and feminists - but they're absolutely not and much like some of the extreme right-wing types spend a lot of time inside their own echo chambers.

It's unfortunate and it needs to be challenged but there are plenty of sane people in the world too. Even ones that call themselves liberals.

A number of girls I know that once considered themselves feminist now are trying to distance themselves from that label due to it being co-opted by people that take it to extremes.
 
Victimhood is a powerful drug.

Close. I would say victimhood gives power. That's what concerns me about the current trend of being able to accuse people without any evidence whatsoever and there being no legal process to clear someone of said accusation, people can abuse it for personal benefit or to destroy someone they have a grudge with.
 
I see what you mean about a moral panic, bit this sort of correction often manifests in that way. As awareness of something comes to the fore there will be a mixture of reactions, some over the top, some understated, some more balanced. The point is that there is a problem, and mocking or deriding those attempting to deal with it only perpetuates it. But hey, it's not surprising. Men are being told they can't misbehave and they don't like it because it's a disruption to the status quo. Men are losing some power that they never deserved to have in the first place, that they had taken by force over thousands of years. It's all progress, but it takes time, and people will buck against it. That's what this thread is, a bunch of men scared that they might have some inappropriate behaviour if there curtailed at some point.

I just find their is a habit to pathologise male behaviour as toxic whilst women tend imo to have more excuses made for the aspects of their inherent behaviour that can be undesirable.

A classic example of this is hypergamy which effects women more and contributes to all sorts of undesirable side effects like women triggering most divorces and a not insignificant amount of women lying about the paternity of their children.

Another often excused (in women) aspect of negative behaviour is an increased tendency towards neuroticism which seems imo to be partially helping to feed what I view as an over reaction to the issues related to this thread

The flip side of the urges driving male sexual harassment cause woman to seek to dress in manners designed to elicit (sexual) attention from (some) men...

Very few men (relatively) place much emphasis on dressing, say for work, in a manner designed to elicit the increased attention from the opposite sex compared to their male peers than you witness with some women, especially younger women who will dress in a manner that is clearly distinguished from their peers.

I notice for example that people were defending a female mp sat in parliament dressed in a low cut top and rather fancy black tights in another thread on GD. Personally I thought, from the picture I saw, that her outfit was not appropriate for a workplace like the house of commons and firmly believe that if you want to be consistent that you must ask people to refrain from dressing in a manner designed to elicit increased attention if you also want a workplace where you seek to reduce the incidence of unwanted security attention
 
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I see what you mean about a moral panic, bit this sort of correction often manifests in that way. As awareness of something comes to the fore there will be a mixture of reactions, some over the top, some understated, some more balanced. The point is that there is a problem, and mocking or deriding those attempting to deal with it only perpetuates it. But hey, it's not surprising. Men are being told they can't misbehave and they don't like it because it's a disruption to the status quo. Men are losing some power that they never deserved to have in the first place, that they had taken by force over thousands of years. It's all progress, but it takes time, and people will buck against it. That's what this thread is, a bunch of men scared that they might have some inappropriate behaviour if there curtailed at some point.
Von's is one of the most consistently extreme (extreme PC) on this forum.

Post does not surprise in the slightest.

Dissenting opinions must always be labelled as either "right wing" or "rape apologists" or "privileged" or ... insert derogatory PC label here.

Predictable, boring. Unable to respond to rational arguments without attempting to belittle, deride and justifies this by painting the other side as some kind of undesirable. Character assassinations are the go-to tool for this poster.
 
Just for a laugh, I googled "all women are victims". I half-knew what the result would be before I typed it.

There is a *prevailing* view in society now that yes, all women *are* victims. That they are victims even if they don't identify as victims.

There were at least two articles saying, "All men must share in guilt for cases like Weinstein's, whether they are harassers or not, because they have the power our male-dominated society."

There were plenty saying that western democracies are all patriarchies, meaning "women are victims by default".

There was a discussion on Mumsnet saying "If you support the hashtag #NotAllMen, you are a male rape apologist." Because apparently, the idea that not all men are rapists is mutually exclusive with taking actual rape seriously.

Plenty of people saying that "violence is almost exclusively a male trait" - despite this being factually and scientifically disproved.

Frankly it seems more and more like lunacy for anyone who isn't Brad Pitt, to think about flirting with any woman. It seems these days that if you have any kind of flirtatious encounter with a female you're a sex pervert, a harasser, and a criminal. Not to mention part of the patriarchy and part of the problem.

Where do we go from here? More victimisation culture; more PC?

What power? I don’t have any power whatsoever. However, articles? :eek: :rolleyes:


I cannot find the clip of Edwina on This Week from the other night when she was on the sofa that seemed to be only saying the sensible things. Closest I could find...

 
Just for a laugh, I googled "all women are victims". I half-knew what the result would be before I typed it.

There is a *prevailing* view in society now that yes, all women *are* victims. That they are victims even if they don't identify as victims.

There were at least two articles saying, "All men must share in guilt for cases like Weinstein's, whether they are harassers or not, because they have the power our male-dominated society."

There were plenty saying that western democracies are all patriarchies, meaning "women are victims by default".

There was a discussion on Mumsnet saying "If you support the hashtag #NotAllMen, you are a male rape apologist." Because apparently, the idea that not all men are rapists is mutually exclusive with taking actual rape seriously.

Plenty of people saying that "violence is almost exclusively a male trait" - despite this being factually and scientifically disproved.

Frankly it seems more and more like lunacy for anyone who isn't Brad Pitt, to think about flirting with any woman. It seems these days that if you have any kind of flirtatious encounter with a female you're a sex pervert, a harasser, and a criminal. Not to mention part of the patriarchy and part of the problem.

Where do we go from here? More victimisation culture; more PC?
I suggest those women who feel western societies are making them victims, move to the ME and are how they like those rights.
 
Would I really want to since the goal posts keep shifting? Or will people read that as a bad insensitive term as well?
 
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[..]
I do not understand how the defence minister can say he has fallen short, yet remain an MP.
[..]

IIRC he emphasised the military connection of his position, so it could be argued that his position is that people connected to the military should be held to a higher standard than MPs. Maybe particularly so if they have a senior position connected with the military. Officer and a gentleman sort of thing. Or possibly just that a minister should be held to a higher standard than an MP because they have a higher rank. More power = more responsibility.

It's a bit thin, but I think that's the gist of the argument.

Although I suspect that the underlying reason is the government's majority in the Commons, which is even thinner. May can appoint a new minister. She can't appoint a new conservative MP.
 
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