Misandry in this country can be understood as the inevitable wave of equality pushes towards the shore for women. Like every oppressor before them, men are now being held responsible for centuries of inequality. It is to be expected, but what needs to be looked at now is the swing too far to the other side. The object of hatred by some of the victims that now hold all of the male species responsible for the oppression of their sisters. Charged with family raising and career having, women have been stretched to their limits with unequal pay for the same work and less time to do it in.
The quote that I used the other day from Stephen Biko was that "the biggest weapon that oppressors have is the mind of the oppressed." I took courses in this in college and learned the female perspective historically on this type of surge. It's necessary and at the same time may go too far. The pendulum has swung too far in one direction and now it naturally has to swing back. The best thing that could ever happen would be for the pendulum to stop, but that's where we continue to have problems.
When you look at the number of men being held accountable for their actions, it has become almost assured that the man is not being treated as if he were innocent until proven guilty. That has a chilling effect on other areas of society. Look at the Emmy Award song this year about "we did it." I realize that it was tongue in cheek because we have a very long way to go before that song doesn't make sense any longer. The fact that it does make sense to us now is a sign of the times. It has lasting effects when media and entertainment focus on social issues...that's what they are suppose to do.
Realize too that there are waves of change behind women that includes women too. Black oppression, LGBTQ oppression and religious oppression as well as immigrant oppression all have big waves growing bigger and bigger as women finally speak out about what they know to be true, but there are other women out there that see this as an opportunity. Remember that this is America and we need to do a better job of handling this situation within the confines of the law before it gets to the media's slaughterhouse. Since when is a rape investigation or sexual harassment on television before charges are filed. I think that we can cut down on the impact of a true claim and a false claim simply by investigating these crimes in an investigation not in the court of public opinion. The charges are hurtful and damaging but we should not put the guilt assumption "horse" before the provable cart.
If every single man that has HIV is accused of spreading the disease then we have re-produced the culture of fear that pervaded the now treatable disease. However, if the flip side is that we don't look at people that we can prove spread the disease, never met the rapist and show hand written notes to that effect, we have an obligation to speak the truth. Even when that truth is that it is a woman that is doing it. My fear is that we've become so overly sensitive to women in this horrible situation that people will feel sorry for Lori, that's just Lori joining in with a group of women that she doesn't belong with for cover. She belongs on the other side with the people that commit this crime. The fact that she's a woman shouldn't be considered. It's all about the science and the witnesses.
