I think we're finally believing women | Humdrum 39
The onslaught of reports about more and more men accused of various acts of sexual misconduct has been relentless. On Friday, there were accusations against Jeffrey Tambor.
It seems like it's everyone.
Everyone. I'm glad, relieved, hopeful that the silence surrounding sexual harassment and assault is cracking enough to let these allegations through. But this deluge is overwhelming. There are so many terrible men. Thinking about this made me remember a bit in Irritable Hearts: A PTSD Love Story (a memoir about a journalist who developed PTSD and fell in love).
The author, Mac McClelland, described an 1896 paper in which Sigmund Freud
“announced that he had finally determined the root of the severe psychological symptoms of the women he was treating. . . It was sexual abuse.“Given the prevalence of hysteria, the implication of Freud’s work was that someone, a lot of someones, were sexually molesting women and children, at all levels of society.”
Everyone: fathers, uncles, brothers, neighbors. All these men, including the upstanding citizens, the wealthy, these “Good Men,” were guilty of sexual abuse.
Despite all accounts from his female patients, despite all this clear evidence, Freud “changed course.” He and society pulled their own Ockam’s razor. It was easier to believe that the problem came from within all these women, instead of outside it.
You can hear the justifications, right? She misunderstood, she's lying, she's hysterical. But despite flipping on the conclusion from all his evidence, I can’t place the whole blame on Freud. The society he was living in was just as culpable. Freud was ostracized after that 1896 paper came out. It stood against a long history of ignoring women, of thinking their opinions and experiences were not as worthwhile or believable as a man’s. It was easier to believe that bitch was crazy than to think a man did anything wrong.
Think of all the women who said nothing, over decades and decades and hundreds and thousands of years. Not only were women ignored or blamed when we needed help the most, but just in trying to live our opinions and desires and ambitions were laughed at or shot down. Deemed secondary, if they were even regarded at all.
I think we might finally be crawling out of that hole. Donald J. Trump, one of the rich and powerful, was recorded talking—bragging—about sexual assault. The “locker room talk.”
And then he was elected. You finally saw what happens when a rich, mediocre man who has harmed women is excused, his actions toward women justified or ignored.
Finally, enough.
Powerful men in the media who shape the stories we consume, who make art we love, are getting called out for their toxic behavior. Finally, there are consequences. Finally, men are waking up and realizing we have not been lying this whole time. We have not been misunderstanding. We have not been hysterical. That there are so many abusers and harassers from Harvey Weinstein to Dustin Hoffman to Louis C.K. to Jeffrey Tambor bears out Freud’s 1896 finding. A lot of someones have been harming women. It’s not us. It’s them.
Donald J. Trump is what happens when you ignore women and give an awful man more power.
What will happen with Roy Moore and his "what about" excuses? Women have been enduring those for centuries. Roy Moore is not unique, but another in a long line of powerful men who have taken advantage of and abused young women.
I'm hopeful because there's finally been a shift. Toxic masculinity isn't magically disappearing. But men seem to finally be listening to women.
Smash the patriarchy. Feminist Fight Club.
About This Newsletter
Humdrum is written by Christina Brandon, a writer and user experience researcher based in Chicago and proud owner of the Feminist Fight Club book. She's writing a memoir about teaching English in China. You can connect with her by replying to this email or jumping on Twitter or Instagram.
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