Proponents of the #MeToo movement can't have it both ways

When a 2017 report surfaced about a statement Vice President Mike Pence made about choosing not to dine alone with women who aren't his wife, Karen, the progressive left scorned him for it.


The left said this rule Pence abides by creates a disadvantage for women, especially in politics, and they were baffled by it.

The left accused him of assigning "ulterior motives to women," who they said just wanted to be heard.

The left then conjured hypothetical scenarios in op-eds in which the roles were reversed, and women were the ones in positions of power refusing to dine with men who aren't their husbands – all to lambast his "moral rigidity."
But is Pence's decision to not dine with a woman who isn't his wife really that bad, considering all the complexities men and women face in their interpersonal affairs today, and not just regarding work but dating in general?

Since the #MeToo movement swept the conversation about sexual harassment policies for employers and gender-based discrimination, there's been a certain aspect of the conversation that's been largely overlooked that's worthy of an immediate behavioral overhaul if the group wants to stay true to its fundamental mission which is to protect, end, and support survivors of sexual violence.

Lately, members of the movement who overzealously attacked men on the grounds of #MeToo, have embraced the hypersexualization of preteens and young adults in other spaces.

Take Cosmopolitan magazine and Teen Vogue, for example. Both publications market sex-infused articles to young women and LGBTQ teens that instantaneously draw the ire of conservatives and apolitical Americans who find the content detrimental to teens.

And just last month, Teen Vogue made headlines – again — for instructing young girls on how to obtain an abortion without the knowledge or consent of their parents.
A year prior to that, Teen Vogue ran a "how-to" article titled, "A Guide to Anal Sex," which graphically detailed "anal 101, for teens."

When the initial article was published, it was absent of any disclaimer that encouraged young people to use protection and received heavy backlash.
Teen Vogue eventually made the decision to add an editor's note about the importance of using protection during anal sex but by then it was too late.

The fallout was swift, and the culture wars endured between conservatives who viewed the story as out of line and the progressives on the left who ran it.
Another headline in Cosmopolitan magazine chronicled a writer's summer of casual sex in her early 20s where she justified cheating on every boyfriend she had had, without regrets.

She also suggested to women in their early 20s who've cheated on their boyfriends to not regret it because it's how they learn about their sexuality.

And as I write this, another article by Teen Vogue was just published advising teens on how to make their orgasms "magical."

Another blind spot for those who share the ideological space with the LGBTQ community, the Women's March, and the #MeToo movement is the proliferation of child drag queens.

The groups have had nearly zero mental reservations about how the sexualization of these young boys directly conflicts with their overall goals.

Last week, the mother of preteen drag queen "Desmond Is Amazing" spoke out about a convicted pedophile who wrote a blog post about her11-year-old son who's been prominent in the drag scene.

In the post, the pedophile described Desmond as "hot" and added that he [Desmond] "feels sexy performing."

Embracing this type of attitude when it comes to drag queens and teen sex presents a consequential challenge for the #MeToo movement as it tries to shake off its loudest critics who view it as harmful to traditional gender roles and the nuclear family.
The right has been unrelenting in its criticism of the movement. Some of the loudest opponents have accused #MeToo of promoting behaviors that are emasculating for men to the point where even showing the slightest bit of interest in a woman could easily be misconstrued as sexual misconduct.

It has also had unintended consequences that are hurtful for women. According to a Human Resources study, men who are in a position to hire are avoiding hiring women altogether for the sake of avoiding the culture of "guilty until proven innocent."

We saw this with Aziz Ansari when a woman accused the comedian of sexual assault after a bad night of sex and the Sacred Heart University football players who were falsely accused of rape by a woman who wanted to get the attention of a love interest.
Let's also not forget when gay icon and anti-Trump, Women's March champion Madonna pulled down a 17-year-old girl's shirt at her concert and exposed her breasts.

And who can forget what took place between Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, which divided the nation for months?

The Women's March and the #MeToo movement are ideologically monolithic and inflexible in their beliefs, often viewing conservative ideas as the antithesis of the movement's collective goals.

The groups took on, almost instantaneously, a progressive stance that automatically signed women up for pro-abortion views and far left Democratic platforms instead of adhering to the original intent, which was to put an end to the sexual abuse of women – and not just the abuse of liberal women but conservative women too.

But they can't have it both ways.

This isn't to say that topics about human sexuality should be avoided altogether.
But if the movement wants its message to transcend ideological lines and to be effective in eliminating abusive sex, it's going to have to have an honest conversation about the sexual proclivities it celebrates, encourages, and promotes among preteens and teens.

For these reasons, the movement cannot simultaneously call for society to be sensitive to sexual harassment and abuse while it perpetuates a culture that breeds these abuses.

You say, "believe all women" and march so your daughters will never have a #MeToo story of their own but what you continue to endorse diminishes your efforts.
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