If the revelations in the news this week are any indication, some men are in dire need of a refresher course on how to treat women.
The men I know are very respectful of women. This is why it shocks me that there are so may dickheads running amok giving their gender bad press.
I think back to the 1960s, when women across the country had had it up to here and mobilized to demand equality.
Equality was part of it. But the other piece was that women would no longer pander to men. We would no longer be subservient or objectified.
Oh 1960s protests, were are you when we need you? We need you N.O.W.
The 1960s gave birth to the National Organization for Women, N.O.W., in which women declared their empowerment, their autonomy, their entitlement to every right that men enjoyed. Women would no longer be second class citizens, we avowed. The message was loud and clear.
Treat us equally, we argued. We can be your equal in the boardroom and in the bedroom. And speaking of that, men, we are more than just tits and ass, here to serve your needs.
In 1967, Aretha Franklin belted out her hit song, "Respect."
R.E.S.P.E.C.T. All we're asking for is a little respect, men.
Did someone miss that memo? For starters, Donald Trump, Josh Duggar and accused/alleged rapist at St. Paul's?
Let's start with Josh Duggar.
Christian fundamentalist, family values espouser and former 19 Kids and Counting "celebrity," is a confessed sister molester and wife cheater. This hypocrite only came forward to ask for forgiveness for his latest sin when outed by the Ashley Madison site hack. Up until now, his sisters have been defending him, claiming he had reformed since those dark days. Now, with an infant and three other young children, it's his wife's turn to deal with the hurt and betrayal both privately and publicly. No, he has not reformed.
Like high profile women whose husbands cheated -- Hillary Clinton, Jenny Sanford, Dina McGreeevy, the late Elizabeth Edwards -- Anna Duggar is the latest to be thrust into the limelight by her husband's peccadillos.
And then there's Donald Trump.
The blowhard bully, the poster boy for misogyny Donald Trump, whose verbal assaults on women have nothing to do with their brains and everything to do with their body type. Atop his gilded perch, he gleefully sneers at women, degrades them, scorns them. If anyone is criticizing him, their voices are getting lost as his popularity continues to skyrocket. We need to get his pompous ass voted off this unreality show now.
Also in the news, the alleged St. Paul's School rapist.
This outrageous case of the 15-year-old student at St. Paul's boarding school who was allegedly raped by an 18 year-old as part of a ritual known as Senior Salute, in which senior boys compete in a contest to have sex with freshmen girls, makes my blood boil. In her testimony, the victim claimed that she had refused her assailant's advances, but tried to be as polite as possible, because she had not wanted to come across as "bitchy."
I shuddered when I read this. It is terribly sad that a young girl cared more about her assailant's feelings than her own safety.
In the sexual revolution of the 60s, it was all about free love, casual sex, no commitments. But there was also the lingering vestige from an earlier generation: a woman's role was to please. To not make waves. To be accommodating and acquiescent and complimentary. To not be bitchy.
Can we please dispel this notion for once and for all?
Whether the alleged rapist will be convicted is yet to be seen. But this -- and all the other instances of women bashing -- should be a wake up call for us women, that we can be bitchy, we should be bitchy and we should demand R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
We do not have to take this. Let's make our voices heard as we did decades ago.