How C.C. Sees It: Sexual Assault Knows No Boundaries
by Carly Cundiff
It seems like with every passing day, another public figure is accused of sexual assault or harassment. What started with Harvey Weinstein has quite quickly spiraled into a never ending stream of closed doors, whispered sentences and open bathrobes.
When Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) was accused a week and a half ago, people were quick to say that sexual harassment is not merely a Republican problem. The blame quickly shifted over to the Democrats, especially after Sen. Al Franken (D-Minnesota) was also accused.
How ignorant it is to think that sexual harassment has boundaries as menial as political affiliation.
Sexual harassment and assault knows no race, gender, age, occupation, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status. It knows no area of employment or location. And it certainly does not know any political party.
Sexual harassment is not something that is “new;” it is not novel or something that only recently began to happen. Sexual harassment has been happening for years, decades, centuries. Only now are women beginning to feel comfortable enough to come forward with their stories.
And yet, the world still is not ready for these brave pioneers. The second that a woman tries to come forward with the story of her experience then lawyers and those accused work to discredit her. You can look no further than the allegations leveled against our Commander-in-Chief, who, after being accused of the sexual assault of a People Magazine reporter, asked crowds at his rally to “take a look” at her, implying that she wasn’t attractive enough to be sexually assaulted.
If that does not make you sick, it should.
Sexual assault has been happening for a very, very long time. And it will continue to happen as long as powerful men (and women– the perpetrator is not always a man) feel like they can take whatever they want and see their female peers and subordinates as mere meat.
We need to praise these brave women for coming forward. Sexual harassment is demeaning, demoralizing and degrading. It makes people want to bottle it up and hide it out of shame. These women risked (and suffered) public ridicule, ostracization and more harassment. Yet they stood up for all of us who are not ready to speak and raised their voices.
The stream of accusations is nowhere near over, and honestly it should not be over until every last survivor of sexual harassment and assault is given the opportunity to tell their story and every last perpetrator has fallen from grace. In the meantime, we need to keep the spotlight on the issue instead of the superflous labels that surround it. Sexual harassment and assault know no boundaries, so our advocacy should not either.
