Before anyone starts to think that I don't support the brave women of #METOO, understand that I've been a supporter of equality in the workplace without this kind of behavior for many years. I also know the pitfalls of something like this too. Muller v. Oregon is something that I would like to point out to Rose McGowan. I believe in you, Rose. I believe that you have had a horrible experience and YOU NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT! One thing I caution advocates about is the Muller v. Oregon effect on women.
When you seek to protect "women and children" in the workplace, you have to understand the past to prevent problems in the future. I wrote a paper about it in college for a women's study senior seminar and I know what I am talking about.
There is no doubt in my team's mind that I love women, non sexually.
There is a balance to be struck when these kinds of allegations are made and we seek change. There is a certain amount of rebound to this effect that can have reverberations for several decades. This doesn't mean that you don't protect people in the workplace from this kind of sexual harassment, it means that you do it for men and women. If you don't, you seek an equality that is not equal. You can't go so far as to "protect women" against this by making laws that specify women. If you do, you have delivered your advocacy work a serious blow. To create equality based on gender alone makes your gender more equal then less.
Check out my research...you will find this is true.
Beyond that, sexual harassment is NOT something that Lori needs to claim. She wasn't raped by any of the victims of this crime that now suffer from her HIV or was she, in any way, victimized by them. Let's be clear. When Lori said, "I'm just like those #METOO women, I just about vomited!" There is a culture of "believing women" that isn't ALWAYS true. Men get harassed too and I know that #METOO is not suppose to be gender specific. Unfortunately there are some women out there that want to jump on the necessary band wagon of people like Rose and others.
If Lori ever accused me of "sexually harassing" her after she gave me HIV, how would that look? I never consented to sex with her. I've never shared a needle with her. I've never wanted anything to do with her. So when I talk about what I've been through on here, along with my boyfriend and other gay men, I have experience. Lori has a reputation that makes Weinstein look like a peeping tom and that isn't something that anyone that has been allegedly raped by him would want.
What Lori does is diminish the story of a rape victim. I don't know what it is like to be a woman, but I do know what it is like to be raped, intentionally infected and left to die. This is the difference between a "movement" and a terrorist, not anything else. Lest anyone believe that the gay men that have suffered in Palm Springs should ever be accused of harassing her.
#METOO, is something I could be a part of because of what I've been through. I wouldn't add my name to it until I knew that the people that are involved in it know the plusses and minuses of this kind of movement, historically. We need to make sure that the "male" witch hunt isn't just a punishment for other things too. I deal with a woman that is crazy about saying I am harassing her...after she nearly killed me and had something to do with my brother in laws death. She claims to be #METOO...because I tell you about it? That's not something that any of us need to believe.
Good luck Rose, I am on your side in terms of supporting a rape victim and any woman that had to sleep with a man or a woman for a role in a show. That's not fair...and it isn't legal.
As far as #METOO, I want to tell you that I represent 650 men that have been raped by a woman and intentionally infected with HIV. She says that SHE is "just like those #METOO actresses". Um, I wouldn't ever be a part of something or believe in anything that Lori thinks that she is a "part of". This is where you have the "problem". Some women are victims. Some women are victimizers. How do you know which is which in a career that involves so much? Lori is someone that is taking the essence of what is good about #METOO and turning it into something worthless for other victims of this same crime. I live in the real world. Not Hollywood. When someone like Lori jumps on a bandwagon like this, the message is not clearly enough defined.
