Times Up Now
I am not qualified to write about this because I’m a man?
However I have witnessed throughout my previous 28 year employed career how men behaved around me towards women. How senior people wielded their seniority to take advantage of women and kept them in fear of losing their jobs.
I must admit that at times I feel ashamed to be a man when I see those stories of sexual harassment. Whether men think that they were different times or not, they believed (believe) it was (is) acceptable to behave in this way. I appreciate that men are sexually assaulted too.
To think that my brothers, that’s what we’re supposed to call each other, carried out these crimes towards women really doesn’t make me proud of them, not in the slightest.
In my employed career I saw how senior more mature managers sexually harassed and assaulted young women during the annual Christmas party. In those days it was laughed at and people shrugged their shoulders. But every year we knew the same thing would happen and many wondered who would be his victim this year. As far as I know the person never got reprimanded and I was far too junior to say anything. And yes I do regret not saying anything, but I could have lost my job and I had a mortgage to pay. This made me a victim too!
In addition we know that men carry out abuse towards 1 in 3 women, which makes me feel sick. This means I know many women who are living in silence and fear or have left their partners trying to repair the broken pieces of their lives. It also means I know many men, but they remain unknown to me, who are the abusers who carried out these crimes. I worry sometimes about the men that I might call my friends.
There are still whole countries, religions and regimes who treat women in a subservient manner and this means that the world will continue to carry out crimes towards women and nobody is doing anything, all governments are guilty.
I am proud of the women who are standing up against this and are saying that #timesupnow.