Mike Pence is No Dummy

Tonight, I listened to the evening news, and story after story was about men being accused of and fired for inappropriate behavior of a sexual nature.  This is just crazy!  Matt Lauer could lock his office door from the inside with a button on his desk?  Why did they allow him to have that installed?  Katie Couric commented years ago that he frequently “pinched her ass” but no one saw this as a problem?  They just paid him $25 million a year and looked the other way?

Lauer is just the latest in a lengthy list.  Something has caused the dam to break and release all the dirt collected and stored over years of indiscretion.  In the past, women have been coerced into silence by powerful men.  They have been unwilling to risk their careers to hold men accountable, and men have behaved like animals.  Women who have come forward have been disbelieved and/or labeled as sluts.

There is lots of blame to go around here.  The notion that we evolved from lower life forms, rather than being created by a God to whom we are responsible, is a factor.  We have abandoned the notion of moral absolutes.  Women being desperate to advance their careers and willing to do anything is a problem.  Unequal treatment of women so that they are placed in such a horrible spot is an issue.  Women not understanding that men are turned on visually, and that the way they dress contributes is a factor.  Women are not turned on visually the same way men are and pretty much ignore this difference.  Someone will read this and be furious with me for “blaming the victim.”  But, as I said, there is plenty of blame to go around.  Everything in society is oversexualized.  Sex is used to sell and promote an unbelievable array of products.  Our children are exposed to blatant sexuality during prime-time television and through the lyrics in music blaring in public places. 

We are living in a cesspool!  It takes superhuman strength and vigilance on the part of both men and women to maintain any semblance of sexual purity and propriety while swimming in filth.

A few months back Mike Pence was criticized for saying he would not have dinner alone with a woman.  He takes his wife along.  I believe I read that he also leaves the office door open when meeting with a woman.  Liberal women were howling that this would create a situation where women could not advance in their professions.  Baloney!  It creates a safe environment in which women can advance without having to pass out sexual favors.  If every man was careful not to allow himself to be in a compromising situation, and every woman was careful not to allow herself to be drawn into one, the possibility of these incidents would dramatically lessen.  Nor could false accusations be made, if there was always a witness.  Exercising such precautions protects both the man and the woman.

We women believe that we have made great strides toward equality of opportunity.  I wonder how much of this advancement has been purchased with silence about what powerful men have done.  It has become time to remove that factor from the equation.  It is actually way past time.  But, I don’t know how we can bring about genuine change as long as we allow ourselves to think that standing for morality means one is “intolerant” of the beliefs of others.  There are some things which should NOT BE TOLERATED.