Advice For Men in the Post #MeToo Era

The #MeToo movement first began late last year after the public first learned about Harvey Weinstein’s disturbing pattern of sexual misbehavior.  Various women, some who have achieved quite a bit of fame in their own right, came forward saying that they too had been sexually assaulted and/or harassed by powerful men, including Weinstein.

 

The #MeToo movement has unearthed sexual assault allegations against famous men, some dating back decades; ending the careers of TV personalities including Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose, entertainers such as Louis C.K. and Kevin Spacey, and politicians on both sides of the aisle.  Rose, who co-hosted CBS This Morning in addition to hosting an eponymous program on PBS, allegedly welcomed female interns into his home wearing nothing but a bathrobe.  Lauer, who spent more than two decades as co-host of NBC’s Today show, experienced his fall from grace just one week after CBS and PBS gave Rose the axe.  In his office, Lauer apparently had a button under his desk that would lock the door so he didn’t have to get up.  A videotape obtained by TMZ featured him saying to co-host Meredith Vieira, “Keep bending over like that.  That’s a nice view.”

 

C.K. admitted to exposing himself to two fellow female comedians, leading to the cancellation of his latest project, “I Love You Daddy,” which happens to promote pedophilia.  Actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey, star of the Netflix series “House of Cards,” of trying to initiate sex with him at a party in 1986, when Rapp was just fourteen years old.  Spacey used the allegations against him as an excuse to “come out,” much to the chagrin of the LGBT community. Spacey lost his lead role in “House of Cards” while Director Ridley Scott refilmed parts of “All The Money in the World” at the last minute, with Christopher Plummer replacing Spacey as billionaire J. Paul Getty.      

 

Democrats who saw their careers end sooner than expected because of the #MeToo movement include Senator Al Franken, Rep. John Conyers, and Rep. Ruben Kihuen. Franken and Conyers have already resigned from Congress while Kihuen, a first-term Congressman from Nevada, has announced that he will not run for re-election.   Franken’s career came to an end not long after a picture surfaced of him grabbing Leeann Tweeden’s breasts as she slept on board a plane during a 2006 USO tour.  Tweeden also accused Franken of kissing and groping her without her consent.  Conyers, who held the titles of the oldest and longest serving member of Congress until his resignation late last year, spent $27,000 settling a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by one of his former female staffers.  He apparently liked to sit in his office with an open bathrobe.  A woman who served as Kihuen’s finance director alleges that he inappropriately touched her thigh without her consent.      

 

The #MeToo movement also ended the careers of Republican Senate Candidate Roy Moore, Congressmen Pat Meehan and Blake Farenthold.  Allegations that Moore had molested a fourteen-year-old girl as a 32-year-old man dogged his Senate campaign, causing him to lose in the reliably Republican state of Alabama.  Meehan, who represents a swing district in the Philadelphia area that became dramatically more Democratic as a result of mid-decade redistricting, used $39,000 of taxpayer money to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by one of his staffers. Farenthold, who represents a very Republican district in Corpus Christi, used $84,000 of taxpayer money to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by one of his former staffers.  Apparently, Farenthold liked to describe the attractiveness of women, specifically focusing on their breasts and behinds.  Farenthold had also raised eyebrows when a photo surfaced of him wearing duck pajamas standing in between two lingerie-clad models.   While both Meehan and Farenthold initially announced that they intended to finish out their terms in Congress, they both abruptly resigned from Congress.  Farenthold’s resignation triggered a special election.  Hopefully, Republicans will avoid embarrassing themselves like they did in Pennsylvania. 

 

The fallout of the #MeToo movement may result in a dramatically altered workplace landscape between men and women.  According to PBS Host Tavis Smiley, who has faced sexual harassment allegations of his own, pointed out that “Clearly there are millions of Americans who met their spouse at work.  The problem is we’re starting to criminalize legitimate relationships between consenting adults.”

 

Unfortunately, the sexual misdeeds exposed by the #MeToo movement serve as a logical conclusion to the popular culture that has glorified the behavior for the past half-century.  As Ann Coulter pointed out, “George Washington didn’t grab women’s breasts or force them to watch him masturbate.”   The phrase “politics is downstream from culture,” coined by the late Andrew Breitbart, certainly applies in the case of sexual misbehavior.  Movies like “American Beauty” promote adultery, movies like “Call Me By Your Name” promote pedophilia and movies like “Fifty Shades of Grey” promote S&M and sexual abuse along the lines of what women have accused Former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Missouri Governor Eric Greitens of subjecting them to.  Keep in mind that Planned Parenthood, funded by your tax dollars, teaches underage girls how to “role play” with their boyfriends.    

 

But don’t expect Hollywood to practice what it preaches.  Even as Hollywood big-shots use the phrase #TimesUp, they will continue to produce and promote movies that encourage sexual behavior and dialogue that ordinary people find unacceptable in real life, the same way they continue to produce and promote movies loaded with gun violence even though they demand that law abiding citizens give up their guns.   Similarly, Hollywood will continue to demand that their fellow Americans embrace “multiculturalism” and “diversity” while sending their kids to expensive, all-white private schools and living in gated communities, many with armed guards.        

    

As someone who has no real experience dating besides the prom, perhaps I do not have the qualifications to give advice to my fellow males in an effort to help them avoid facing sexual harassment allegations. But nonetheless, I have decided to give it a try:

 

Never, ever text a picture of a body part that dangles: I stole this piece of advice from Betty White, who included this “pearl of wisdom” at the end of the pilot episode of her TV series “Off Their Rockers.”  This advice especially applies when communicating with young girls, as Former Congressman Anthony Weiner learned the hard way when he sent pictures focusing on his private parts to an underage girl using the alias “Carlos Danger.” Then again, adult men have no business communicating with young girls via text message, period.  Even “consenting adults” should avoid texting sexually explicit pictures to one another, if for no other reason than to avoid revenge porn that has become far too common in the digital age.    

 

Don’t initiate hugs with your female colleagues: In the age of mass hysteria, better safe than sorry.  Let her make the first move.  The same goes for handshakes, especially if the female in question is one of your superiors.  You should have no problem if you decide to shake the hand of a female job applicant during an interview if you are the one interviewing her.  

 

Resist the urge to engage in locker room talk: This piece of advice becomes exponentially more important when in the presence of females. When talking about females that tickle your fancy or commenting on a girl’s social media posts, use words like “attractive,” “gorgeous,” “beautiful” and “pretty” as opposed to “hot,” “sexy,” and “MILF.”  This piece of advice especially applies to the workplace. Whatever you do, don’t ever discuss female genitalia.  Just because feminists talk about their reproductive organs when trying to justify their demands for taxpayer-funded abortions and contraception, doesn’t mean that you have to.       

 

Don’t bump and grind: I would probably give this advice even if the #MeToo movement had not taken the nation by storm.  In addition to its popularity at high school dances, bumping and grinding apparently originated as a widespread practice at night clubs across the country.  I don’t understand it.  Doesn’t dancing with a girl while looking into her eyes seem like a more enjoyable experience?      

 

Follow the Pence Rule: The left mocked Vice President Pence for saying that he does not dine alone with a woman other than his wife.  The rule apparently works, as not one woman has come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against the Vice President.  For the record, The Pence rule could probably also apply to female relatives such as sisters, mothers or daughters.

 

Don’t masturbate in public: This should kind of go without saying but apparently not. KTTV news anchor Lauren Sivan alleges that Harvey Weinstein masturbated in front of her.  Indecent exposure laws apply to everyone, even the rich and famous.

 

Don’t think power and prestige exempts you from playing by the rules: An extraordinarily small group of Americans will ever get to experience the stress levels, salaries, malpractice insurance bills, student loan payments and power of medical doctors, whom ordinary Americans put an enormous amount of trust in to safeguard their personal well-being. With great power comes great responsibility.  Dr. Larry Nassar, in his capacity as an osteopathic physician at Michigan State University and later as the team doctor for USA gymnastics, abused that power by molesting over 250 girls including Gold Medal gymnast McKayla Maroney. Hopefully, Nassar’s enormous prison sentence will cause others to think twice when deciding whether or not to make the same mistake.  

 

All of this advice becomes exponentially more important to those who plan to run for office, especially as a Republican.  Maybe the media will finally abolish its double standard of over-covering Republican sex scandals while downplaying Democrats’ sex scandals as it seeks to become a genuine champion of the #MeToo movement.  But don’t count on it.