I can't find it, but I'll keep looking -

When the Bentley scandal broke in Alabama in 2016, the woman in question wrote an oped about how unfair it is when successful women are accused of sleeping their way to the top.

Yes, this is a thing that happened.

1/
To be clear, yes, women are often accused of this. BECAUSE OF WOMEN LIKE HER WHO ACTUALLY ARE SLEEPING WITH THE BOSS.

This made me furious at the time, and I think of it often.

2/
The sheer nerve of her to take up the mantle of feminism and ask women to support her when she absolutely did what she was accused of.

There were hundreds of witnesses. There was audio.

And yet, she wanted sympathy.

3/
I think about this a lot when I speak out against the misappropriation of MeToo.

Rebekah Mason made all working women look bad, she fed that narrative, but still she expected working women to reflexively take up her cause.

We did not.

4/
Tara Reade and others of her ilk are no different.

Women like her are why people don't believe real survivors - why should we defend her?

If liars know they can expect women will BELIEVE them no matter what, more of them will lie.

5/
It's a vicious cycle. If we believe all women including all liars, regardless of what the evidence shows, more women will feel comfortable lying.

And the more women lie, the easier it is for people to assume women are lying.

That is the opposite of MeToo.

6/
Allegations of sexual misconduct should be investigated like any other crime.

That's the only way to protect real survivors.

It's only way to operate with integrity.

If we say "Believe women" if when we know they're lying, why would anyone keep listening?

7/
Some people say calling out Tara Reade is hurting women and MeToo.

I do not understand. It's not like people don't know women lie. It's the default assumptoin. That is the entire point of MeToo.

Letting known liars hide behind MeToo does a disservice to the entire movement.
8/
I hope I can track down Rebekah's article - it will infuriate you as much as it did me.

But you get the gist.

She had no right to claim righteous indignation on behalf of women everywhere.

And neither does Tara Reade.

9/
Dislaimer: I grew up with the Bentleys. My bf is his DIL. When he was 7th in the primary, running a campaign from his kitchen table, I wrote him a social media plan and taught him how to use Twitter. As a favor.

Y'all know the rest, but there's no way I could have known😕
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