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I've discussed perception tonight twice w/ppl. Perception is a big deal. We set the expectations for ourselves OR we allow others to set it for us.
I know which I wld pick.
I know which I wld pick.
MeToo was always always abt women getting heard and getting an investigation. 6 out of 1000 go to court, y'all and get a conviction. So, in Reade's case, it did not hurt the movement. In fact, the movement is VINDICATED by it.
Have we forgotten how many men were credibly accused after the election? Many of whom were journalists who hated Clinton? Those investigations, awkward at first, difficult, painful, resulted every time in men resigning because they knew they'd get trounced in court.
Out of all those men, only two accusations were found unreliable. One was Reade's. Most survivors knew it from the beginning. Myself included. The investigation worked. The Times (who I hate but here we go) wrote this story in 2018: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/23/us/metoo-replacements.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=A2F536F99598B7197FC136FA76B6A439&gwt=pay&assetType=PAYWALL
Out of over 200 men, two accusations weren't credible. I'm sure there are more men since 2018 and Weinstein is in jail. For the rest of his miserable life. This is the beginning of finding justice and it will proceed slowly and never be easy.
But finding a couple of likely false accusations out of hundreds actually supports the idea that false accusations are rare. Because they are. And that investigation works. However, the other thing that needs to happen is women need to set the tone.
Women cannot say "there is a false accusation! We are doomed!" They need to support reality, not the perception of misogynists. The majority of accusations were not false. As expected. The fight continues. If we can get Trump out and the Senate back, we can restore our courts.
If we get representation on the bench, we get these men charged and to formal courts. We have to win on the local level too. More women as sheriffs. More women as mayor. More women in government. We have a long way to go.
We can't turn to misogynist men and say, "What do you think?" We have to frame the narrative ourselves. And the narrative is women's stories need to be heard and investigated and laws need to pass and more rapists need to go to jail.
