So, here's a New Year's toast to #MeToo

So, here's a New Year's toast to #MeToo

Awhile back, I was having this futile argument with a Trump supporter (my cousin, who ought to know better, but doesn’t, haha). He is a born-again Christian – I like the term Christianist – who loves Trumpworld because he thinks those judges whom the orange grotesquerie is appointing will, in the end, get around to rolling back Roe v. Wade and abolish that biblical abomination -- legal abortions. 

To paraphrase my desert island artist, Leonard Cohen, "First we take Washington, then we take Ottawa."

When I criticized the way capitalism treats its women and its workers, he brought up Rwanda. When I said I thought that was a pretty low bar to comparing Canada with on the world stage, he said he wasn’t comparing – no, no, not at all.

Right. Of course not.

So I stumbled across the video link below, this morning – perhaps a better comparator for judging progress in Canadian society than Rwanda! Iceland is going to make it illegal to discriminate in the workplace against women by paying them less. Imagine! And women are actually legal people, too, in Canada!

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/01/02/iceland-makes-it-illegal-to-pay-women-less-than-men_a_23321769/

I consider myself a feminist, although admittedly a deeply imperfect one. I truly admire all the strong, intelligent, beautiful women I have known. I have a wonderful daughter, and I would like very much to eliminate completely and entirely any obstacles to her happiness that are based strictly on her gender. Such crap belongs in the past, back there with 12^th Century Fox (News). It has no place in the supposedly civilized west in the 21^st Century. And yet, women have been forced to produce #MeToo. Gag me with a spoon. Why in God’s name are we still having to fight that battle?

I confess, I still don’t do my full share of housework, although I do try. I cook breakfast several times a week, and dinner once in awhile. I swiffered and vacuumed the stairs to the basement yesterday! I do clean the toilet now and then. I serve wine and hors d’oeuvres to our friends. Make drinks. BBQ. Make coffee most mornings. Fix loose doorknobs. Start the generator. Put the garbage out. I am loud and overbearing far too often. You know, typical.

One thing I am absolutely proud of, however, is that in thirty years as a manager in workplaces where 80% of my staff were female (medical laboratories) I never, ever, violated my trust to try to take sexual advantage of my authority. Not that there weren’t any attractive women among the dozens of smart, hardworking, long-suffering women who reported to me – of course there were – and I was pretty sure at least a few of them liked me, too. And, once I am, er, firmly in a relationship, I have never been particularly shy about waving The Colonel about, either.

But, come on, men! WTF?? You did that to an employee?! Frankly, I just wasn’t brought up that way. You all deserve exactly what you get. Even after 41 years of marriage I am still pretty dumb about women, but one thing I do know, is that a woman who is interested in you will let you know. They certainly know how dumb many men are.

In other words, if you don’t know how she feels, Bud, what you’re thinking about ain’t in the cards. In researching for my historical novels, I learned quite a bit about ancient Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) culture, in which women played a fundamental and leading role. There apparently was no rape (or theft, for that matter). Why? Well, Iroquois men, simply put, just weren’t interested AT ALL in having sex with unwilling women. What put lead in those impressive warriors’ pencils, on the other hand, was a woman who was plainly interested in having sex with them!

You all know what I’m talking about. There’s just something unmistakable in the air between you and her, when a woman is really interested in you, fellas. It hasn’t happened to me all that often, so perhaps I’m just not so attractive as many of you folks are, but it ain’t just a flash of boobs or legs, boys, it’s so much more powerful than that, and it doesn’t need such visual cues. Now I admit, some men are adept at reading very subtle hints that a woman likes them. I have never had that skill. And if I did have it, the only way it works for me is if I can somehow encourage them to make things just a wee bit clearer, so that I ain’t just jumping off a cliff, when I try to kiss them. The only way the Harvey Weinsteins and Donald Trumps are doing this is because they know there is no risk in it – they are the bosses and so there never is a cliff, for them. Now there is. That’s a good, good thing.

That’s where I’m at.

Cheers, and have a great 2018. 

PS, here's a link to the career story of a woman who was a neighbour of mine, as a little girl:

http://www.thememoryproject.com/stories/2996:susan-beharriell/