Sexual Harassment is Still Alive and Flourishing (Unfortunately)

Written by Angie King

Boys, girls and women are in the news again as victims of sexual harassment and abuse.  Young boys, we don’t know how many, at least 12 women college volleyball players, and at least four women employees have been taken advantage of in direct, physical ways.

Football at Penn State will never be the same after revelations that one of their main coaches was caught allegedly abusing young boys on campus as part of a “football camp.” The staff and administration had reportedly known about the problem for at least 10 years, and done nothing. Football is king.

Here at Cal Poly, the volleyball coach, Jon Stevenson, was finally terminated with a settlement check in the wake of charges brought against him of sexual harassment by at least 12 women players. Again, these claims were investigated and found credible, but nothing was done for more than a year.  The report was apparently put in a sealed envelope in the athletic director’s office and left there, while the school reaped alumni donations from having a winning team.

At the same time, it has come to light that Herman Cain, Republican presidential candidate and ex-CEO of big business, allegedly sexually harassed women employees and job applicants; at least two women received monetary settlements not to go public, but others, not so constrained, have come forward with similar reports.  And Cain makes jokes about it on national TV.

In these cases the crimes are horrendous, but predictable. What is worse is the cover up by everyone involved – as if the damage to the victims is merely collateral damage, and the reputations of the men involved are paramount.

NOW has worked publicly and ardently, since it’s founding in 1966, to raise the public’s awareness of the damage done to the victim in acts of sexual harassment and the need to change how we as a society act.  NOW was instrumental in successful passage of many laws at the state and federal level to protect the rights of victims and to impose consequences on the perpetrators.  Yet, sometimes it seems to no avail, as the harassment doesn’t seem to stop. The greater crime is that, as a society, we don’t seem willing to enforce those laws against the rich and powerful.

What seems at least to me to be a (the only?) bright spot is that people are now in fact talking, and they are talking about the underlying issue of the cultural bias to protect men in power. It’s the “droit de seigneur” of the French feudal days, where the lord of the manor got first crack at every woman on his property – but back then, there was no pretense and no attempt at cover-up. The rich were powerful and could take what they wanted, and the peasants had no legitimate grounds to complain.

But, this is America, 200 plus years after the enactment of the United States Constitution as the common basis to which ALL people living here must adhere. There is no “droit de seigneur.” In fact there are specific laws against what the Penn State football, our own volleyball coach and Herman Cain have allegedly done.  Let’s hope that we, as a culture, can reaffirm our commitment to equal treatment and respect for all.

Angie King is the NOW coordinator