DONALD Trump probably wishes he hadn’t made such a fuss about Time magazine’s Person Of The Year 2017 accolade.
Last month, the president kicked off another Twitter fiasco after he tweeted that Time magazine had called to say he would “probably” win the title.
“Time Magazine called to say that I was PROBABLY going to be named ‘Man (Person) of the Year,’ like last year,” Trump tweeted, “but I would have to agree to an interview and a major photo shoot. I said probably is no good and took a pass. Thanks anyway!”
Presumably the (man) president was a bit miffed, then, when he found he’d been beaten to the front cover by a bunch of women. It turned out that Trump was a runner-up in the list, but – like last year – the magazine was less than complimentary about the nature of his admittedly huge influence in the world.
Rather, this year’s award went to the Silence Breakers – those who have spoken out recently about sexual harassment and violence, prompting the recent #MeToo social media campaign.
#MeToo was originally created by Tarana Burke 10 years ago when she founded an organisation to help survivors of sexual abuse. It was resurrected by actress Alyssa Milano after abuse allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein went public, and its impact dominated headlines across the West. It empowered women from many different walks of life – showbiz, fashion, politics, journalism – to go public with their stories, and to finally hold their tormentors to account.
There was an eventual, inevitable backlash to this predominantly female uprising. It’s all too confusing, men told us. We don’t know how we’re allowed to behave any more, they said. Maybe we just shouldn’t speak to women in case they accuse us of something, they cried.
Let’s get something straight: the number of men who genuinely don’t know when their behaviour crosses a line is minimal. It’s not about the words men are allowed to say or the looks they’re allowed to give, it’s about the nature of the encounter. Women know when a man is trying to exert power over them, and men know when they’re making women uncomfortable.
And women will know that many of the men complaining about all this confusion are precisely the men who wish we’d shut up and let them get away with it. The "political correctness gone mad" backlash that #MeToo prompted was a sign that predatory men were irked. The campaign was a threat to the structures that allow creatures like them to thrive, and that’s why it really is important enough to be commended for its groundbreaking contribution to modern discourse.
Women-led movements and heroic female figures are often airbrushed out of popular history. There are plenty of people in the country today who couldn’t name a suffragette. The achievements of women are always under-appreciated and often actively suppressed by threatened men.
#MeToo will be no different, and it won’t solve the problem. But that doesn’t equate to it being meaningless. For young girls and boys in particular, it could make a difference. It could change the way they understand the conversation; it could have an impact that serves to reverse, or at least counter, some of the damage our modern internet porn culture is doing to young minds. It has helped shift the frame by exposing the scale of harassment and violence against women.
It’s an example of social media at its best; when a grassroots, organic campaign bursts into life and welcomes everyone into the fold, the ripple effects can be transformational. Social media is perfect for these short-term, awareness-raising events. It enables people to make an impact that may be much harder otherwise – despite all we know about how widespread and ingrained violence against women is in society, today, in 2017, many were visibly shocked by the revelations. When men have always dominated in the family, the workplace and in public institutions, is it really a surprise that society doesn’t understand the nature of the problem?
Indeed, President Trump himself wasn’t sufficiently harmed by the revelation that he’d boasted – on tape – about his ability to “grab them [women] by the p***y”. Instead, he was elected to one of the world's most powerful positions and able to dominate Time’s Person Of The Year event before it had even happened.
It all illustrates the story in a nutshell. We’re still living in a world where Trump can become US president and women are viewed with suspicion. We may yet have a mountain to climb, but #MeToo at least gave us some much-needed fuel on the way.
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