#MeToo movement shows achievements and distance to go for sexual violence

I have sat in silence watching as one by one, strong men in powerful leadership positions have lost incredible careers over their unwanted sexual demands.  The way Kevin Spacey came forward aggressively apologizing before even being publicly accused, was highly telling.  My heart sank over Charlie Rose and I was aghast at Matt Lauer.  I am not surprised by men using professional power to get sex.  I am however, always saddened by the sickening reminder that ‘good’ people can make disturbing sexually motivated choices.

Hollywood has long been rumored to be a place to trade sex for advancement, it appears as though that is changing.  More and more the world we live in is changing.  Women in North America are the elite free – we enjoy freedoms half of the world’s population is blind too – and here we are fighting to be respected, hired, promoted, appreciated and acknowledged for attributes unrelated to our vaginas.  The fall out is happening because generation after generation our value as a woman has risen, in us.  As individuals and as a group.  And it is about time.  I must admit, my heart does pound in a dash of excitement because if we are ready to strip and defile people in positions of power for their wrongful sexual advancements and attacks, will we soon be ready to do the same to those who rape and molest children?  

In reference to Roy, a former Alabama chief justice accused of sexual misconduct involving a minor, our president Mr. Trump recently said “he totally denies it.”  This statement is the crux of pedophilia.  People in positions of power support child rapists in the denial of it, and it goes away.  Powerful churches create the perfect hide away for child molesters and give them access to children, and when accusations are made the church then protects those who deny it too.  For decades women in Hollywood surely did come forward with claims of rape but their claims weren’t acknowledged, investigated or prosecuted because the accuser denied it.  

If I stole a million dollars and if I denied it, would the state’s attorneys leave me alone?  Would my innocence be upheld and maintained by denials from my friends and family?  As an American I am often dismayed at the moral conundrums we create.  For a sex crime, for violating the most sacred part of another human being, I can be exonerated by 4 words, “I didn’t do it.” If, however I were to steal money, I could be investigated, charged and jailed on circumstantial evidence alone, regardless of how much I denied it.  

In the past party lines were clearly drawn on gun control, but enough mass shootings have taken enough lives that gun control has become expected across party lines today.  The reality of a country full of armed civilians has proven a great tragedy indeed, not because guns are bad but because we have profoundly misplaced what we value.  We can see the effect of our judgmental, disconnected world where we leave people to swim in despair and then give them the tools to produces a deadly outcome.  Ending mass scale shootings involves both gun control as well as creating real solutions to the emotional pain and mental torment people with on a daily basis.  

Today, gun rights are not about the 2nd amendment to our constitution any more than the #metoo campaign is about offering up victims to air dirty laundry, oh no.  This grass roots movement is causing an accountability to every person in a position of power.  It is a small wave in a big clear pond that is ready and willing to open up.  Beautiful, admired, idolized women of our time are using their voices to sing the truth that we are NOT here for anyone’s sexual favor! The innocent were NOT created for any body’s taking!  It is shining a light on the value of the female form, on the sacredness of sex and of a person’s right to choose their own liberties. This wave of change that carries the willingness to derail successful people for morally inexcusable sexual acts is evidence of waves of change to come in other arenas.   Enough disgrace, pain and loss has happened to compel us to change.  The pendulum is swinging and changes are afoot because enough sexual damage has been done that we are rightfully demanding change for ourselves, our daughters, nieces, aunts, and children.  Not only our own children but for every child.  I believe we must mediate the tools we have to destroy each other with and create more campaigns of compassion, of value and Truth – regardless of the fallout.