Friday, April 25, 2014

Remember that kid who asked Miss America to the prom? That was sexual harassment, apparently

Sexual Harassment Is Whatever Sneering Feminists Say It Is

Via Twitchy
Yes, now normal male behavior, for millions of years of human history -- pursuing women -- has been deemed sexual harassment.
What do we expect males to do, sit cross-legged and wish really hard a woman will fall through the ceiling into their laps?
via The Advice Goddess

For every post that states (correctly) that feminism is simply and precisely the desire that men and women be treated equally in the world, both business and casual society, there's stuff like this that serves only to cause people to require physical therapy from the repetitive stress injuries of all that eye-rolling.
The blessedly non-prevalent mindset that "All sex is rape" causes two results:
  1. It causes more people to believe in what Anita Sarkeesian describes as the "Straw Feminist", the cross-armed, man-hating harridan who is so often portrayed in sitcoms and films.  For all the attempts to claim that such iron-box nightmares don't exist at all, stuff like this comes along that put the lie to the claim.  They're NOT the norm, but as is true of so SO many worst-case-scenarios, they're the ones that get the airplay, and it is all too easy for folks on the sideline to assume they are.
     
  2. It dilutes and diminishes the definition of very serious crimes like harassment and rape. I've gone on before about close-to-the-line examples of calling things rape that aren't, but this one is simply laughable. Asking famous people to the Prom is a growing fad in today's world where it's become easier than ever to actually reach celebrities directly via the electric-type twitter.  Both young men and women have done it, and more than a few have succeeded.  But to declare is sexual harassment is to stretch the term past the point of credulity.  And the danger is when a real and proper case of harassment (or worse) comes along, it'll be easier for the cretins in the Men's Rights Movement to chuckle and say "What, again?"
    To paraphrase Syndrome from The Incredibles, "When everything is harassment, then nothing is"
It's the extremist, shrill actions like this that make more people side against proper and reasonable arguments.  Explain the benefits of paying women the same as men and people listen.  Declare that a kid trying to get a celebrity to go with him to the prom is sexual harassment and you not only come off sounding a fool, you make the next few reasonable arguments seem ludicrous by association.

THINK about what you say, especially when you have some measure of a following. The Internet and the media are always keen to find something to make popular movements look bad, often whether they disagree with them or not. Their goal is to stir up controversy, and increase their clickrate.