#MeToo movement backfires
With the current #MeToo movement, women in the workforce and casual sex are becoming far too dangerous for men. In Massachusetts, sexual harassment claims are on the rise.
From Boston25News:
The Boston Herald reported the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination says it received 54 sexual harassment complaints from Jan. 1 to Feb. 16, triple the 18 it received during the same period in 2017. That's more than one per day.
The commission has recommended a $500,000 increase in its budget and asked for more staff to handle the new claims.
Will other states see an increase in complaints? Will HR departments start to think twice before hiring women? Do employers need the headache of investigating all those harassment claims that cost money and tie up resources? Why not just hire a man for the job? Although claims by men have increased in recent years, as of 2016, women were responsible for the vast majority of the 12,680 cases filed with the EEOC. Sorry, women, but future employers may see you as a walking harassment allegation waiting to happen.
Even noted liberal Arianna Huffington thinks #MeToo has men in managerial positions so terrified that there could be a backlash over hiring women. Pushing an initiative called #MentorHer, Huffington tweeted this out earlier this month:
3x as many male managers are now uncomfortable mentoring women in the wake of #MeToo. This is a huge step in the wrong direction. We need more men to #MentorHer.
More male mentors? After the last few months, rational men will be lawyering up before mentoring, training, or sitting next to female employees at the conference table.
Women may also find themselves out of the bedroom, as well as the boardroom. With men facing false accusations after a sexual encounter, casual hook-ups are too risky.
According to a recent Washington Post article, men who have become accustomed to women's open-border policies in bed are now skittish about crossing over into foreign territory. #MeToo has changed the landscape.
From a reprint of a WaPo article in Stuff.co:
As much as the #MeToo moment has changed the workplace, it is changing the dating scene as well. Some single men are so worried about coming on too strong that they will not be the one to lean in for a first kiss.
In her piece for the Post, Lisa Bonos interviewed men trying to figure out where the lines are in the "MeToo era." A 25-year-old Washingtonian graphically laments how his sex trysts are becoming scary and confusing.
From the article:
Over the summer, Geoffrey Knight is in bed with a woman he is dating. He puts his hand on her breast, and she swats it away. "You need to ask before you touch me," he recalls her saying. Knight apologizes, saying he had assumed it was OK because they had just had sex.
"You should never make that assumption," she retorts.
Flash-forward a few months, and Knight is sleeping with someone new. He is asking "Can I touch you here?" "Can I do this?" every step of the way, and his partner wants to know what is with all the questions. She prefers a more proactive approach... he is still thoroughly confused. "It's tough for me to know where the line is," Knight says, "because it changes from woman to woman."
Another 20-something man from West Virginia told Bonos he used to pick up women "frequently" in bars but is wary about it now.
"I don't know what anyone's thinking nowadays," he says. "I don't know what could be considered harassment or what won't be."
For men, the nagging threat of criminal charges after a hot date could reverse the nearly 60-year trend of one-night stands, living together, and broken marriages. For employers, the cost of investigating sexual harassment claims could mean fewer women in the workplace. For working mothers, more women might decide to stay home and raise the children. If the backlash continues, #MeToo will have accomplished what traditional, conservative-minded Americans have been trying to do for decades.