UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
October 23, 2017
By Phyllis Zagano
A few days ago, actress Alyssa Milano tweeted: “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.” Since then, some half million people tweeted “Me Too.” More than twelve million people posted #MeToo on Facebook.
Sexual assault is no joke.
Sometimes they tell tragic stories. Sometimes they name names. Sometimes they just say #MeToo.
They are women and men, girls and boys. They share the common bonds of anger, hurt, resentment and doubt. How could they be treated like that, like what? Like an object? Like an animal? Like a piece of meat?
Their stories are remarkably similar. The professor, the director, the editor, the priest, the manager — always someone with the power to create or destroy a career or a life — physically or emotionally cornered their prey and, more often than not, pounced. These are the up-close-and-personal harassments and assaults: the off-tune comments; the brushing past and “accidentally” touching private places above or below the waist; the promise of some sort of help in return for “favors.”
There is rape, yes, but there are also the subtle line crossings that curdle the soul.
There is the leering and staring, the equally disturbing at-a-distance harassments. The person granted a whistle or a catcall when walking down the street, or the one who is “checked out” coming into a room does not forget it.
Please remember, it’s not just women and girls. Men and boys are often targets of entitled strangers (or friends, or acquaintances or superiors) who only know about defined boundaries on maps. These days we hear more about women and girls.
The salacious facts about the latest celebrity that now spread across newspapers underscore the national interest in little more than salacious facts. Today’s news is forgotten once it wraps tomorrow’s fish. The names paraded across television screens soon drop into a memory hole. Today: Harvey Weinstein. Yesterday: Bill Cosby, Anthony Weiner, and Jerry Sandusky. Other celebrity scandals have already faded. Who remembers Roman Polanski?
Celebrities aside, there are the 6,721 accused priests and bishops in the United States counted by bishopaccountability.org. The sickness of going after children is mind-boggling, but we know at least some are predators intent on abusing older teenagers. Besides these, the uncounted legion of priests with paramours (male or female) brings abuse to a new level. And, we have no idea of the number of fathers among the fathers; we only know of the few whose children or consciences eventually outed them.
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