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Tuesday, October 17, 2017

#MeToo

I've never interacted with people - at least that I know of - who have been victims of sexual assault. It's possible seeing these many posts on social media that I've interacted with mainly women who were victims of sexual harassment. This should help me keep in mind that I and other men should be careful of our body language and words to women.

Of course I also learned through Terry Crews a former NFL player turned actor that men can also be sexually assaulted or harassed. Perhaps it's a lot more common with men than we realize. There is a lot of focus on women - which is understandable - men are expected to handle their business and take care of themselves.

The stories I've seen out there of "me too" give me some pause. Stories of outright molestation as children or even inappropriate comments of men making crude comments based upon appearance. There are even stories of sexual assaults as adolescents or even as adults. I can now recognize the extensiveness of the these issues and for how long many have dealt with them.

What I can say is men like to look at women and vice-versa, perhaps this attention does make some people uncomfortable. And believe me I have recognized this although no harm was intended. There have been times I hadn't not only minded my body language, but my words as well. It's something I can always strive to do much better with as a man.

With this said I have been around men or even women who don't always mind their body language or words. Sometimes the men I've met have been out there as far as the attractive women around them. Less commonly there have been a handful of women who were the same way. They can start running their mouths and perhaps forcefully when they find men who are attractive.

Finally seeing the #MeToo and some of these stories I had comment that it's a shame that it took the Harvey Weinstein scandal to bring this out. Also it took the decade old recording of Donald Trump and Billy Bush released during last year's presidential race to also bring out these stories of sexual harassment and assault. These are definitely conversations we should always have.

Someone out there has been in a situation that made them uncomfortable. Also someone out there has been assaulted by someone. Hopeful the more stories come out as far as what happened between everyday people, the more many of us will be far more mindful.

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