#MeToo: Movement or witch hunt? | FACTUAL FEMINIST — Transcript

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1. 0:01The MeToo awakening is an historic moment.
2. 0:04It has the potential to correct long-tolerated abuses and to lead to a new era of understanding
3. 0:10and respect between men and women.
4. 0:13Please let’s not allow it be hijacked by delusions of gender Armageddon.
5. 0:18That’s coming up next on the Factual Feminist.
6. 0:23Harper's Bazaar, a popular fashion magazine, recently ran an article about the notorious
7. 0:29date between Aziz Ansari and an anonymous woman known as “Grace.”
8. 0:35Many asked, "Why didn’t Grace just leave?"
9. 0:37The Harper’s article offered an increasingly common explanation: Perhaps she was frightened.
10. 0:43Women often go along with unwanted sex on dates because, the article claims, “WOMEN
11. 0:49ARE AFRAID MEN WILL MURDER THEM.
12. 0:52The author, MeToo activist Jennifer Wright, quotes a favorite feminist adage from novelist
13. 0:58Margaret Atwood— “Men are afraid women will laugh at them.Women are afraid men will
14. 1:03murder them."
15. 1:05Wright conjures alarming statistics to justify this fear—for example, that “Ninety-eight
16. 1:10percent of homicidal partners are male.”
17. 1:13That figure is beyond misleading.
18. 1:15The author apparently didn’t check the source.
19. 1:18According to the Justice Department, approximately 30% of homicidal partners are female, 70 percent
20. 1:24male.
21. 1:25All of those deaths are tragic, but they do little to support Wright’s fears.
22. 1:30There are more men who kill women than vice versa, but that’s because men are more likely
23. 1:35to kill, period.
24. 1:36And for the most part, they kill other men.
25. 1:38Nearly 80 percent of murder victims are men.
26. 1:41The odds of a woman being killed by her date are infinitesimally small.
27. 1:47But the odds that baseless attacks on men will weaken a great movement are high.
28. 1:52If today’s sexual reckoning is to achieve lasting progress, it must be a human undertaking.
29. 1:58It’s something men and women must work on together.
30. 2:01We need to dispense with “MEN WANT TO KILL US” rhetorical fantasies.
31. 2:05We are not in a war against half of the human race.
32. 2:10Guilt by association is wrong.
33. 2:12So, for that matter, is innocence by association—which is the premise behind the slogan “Believe
34. 2:17all women.”
35. 2:19Women, like men, are fallible beings.
36. 2:22Even feminist standard-bearer Margaret Atwood acknowledged this in a recent article on the
37. 2:27excesses of #MeToo: “My fundamental position,” Atwood said, "is that women are human beings,
38. 2:33with the full range of saintly and demonic behaviors this entails, including criminal
39. 2:39ones.
40. 2:40They're not angels, incapable of wrongdoing.”
41. 2:44Her words should be etched in stone.
42. 2:46The Factual Feminist is also concerned about the hysterical overreaction to anyone who
43. 2:52dares to introduce a note of moderation.
44. 2:55Consider what happened to the actor Matt Damon.
45. 2:57In an interview with ABC in December of 2017, Damon described #MeToo as “totally necessary,”
46. 3:06and said that harassment “has to be eradicated without question.”
47. 3:11But he insisted on nuance.
48. 3:13There is a difference, he said, “between patting someone on the butt and rape or child
49. 3:19molestation.”
50. 3:20There is “spectrum of behavior,” running from the iniquities of Harvey Weinstein to
51. 3:24the boorish indiscretions of Senator Al Franken.
52. 3:28And punishments ought to be proportional: Minor transgressors shouldn’t necessarily
53. 3:34lose their jobs.
54. 3:35In such cases there is a place for remorse, apology, and forgiveness.
55. 3:40Damon’s comments were reasonable and humane.
56. 3:43Who could possibly disagree?
57. 3:45A lot of people, apparently.
58. 3:4828,000 #MeToo'ers signed a petition demanding that Damon be erased from an upcoming film.
59. 3:55Progressive twitter was outraged.
60. 3:57Minnie Driver, Damon’s former co-star, tweeted that he was “systematically part of the
61. 4:03problem.”
62. 4:04She would later explain to the Guardian, “There is no hierarchy of abuse.
63. 4:07… It’s all fucking wrong.”
64. 4:10Her advice to Damon and men everywhere was to remain silent.
65. 4:13“The time right now is for men just to listen.”
66. 4:16Well, I’m a woman, so I don’t have to be silent.
67. 4:19I think Damon was right.
68. 4:20Minnie Driver’s claim that there is “no hierarchy of abuse” is incoherent.
69. 4:25Gradations of harm and degrees of guilt are fundamental to our moral intuitions and our
70. 4:30legal system.
71. 4:31Our criminal laws make many fine distinctions among bad and worse actions, and so do our
72. 4:36judgements of others in everyday live.
73. 4:39As comedian Bill Maher pointed out, “Justice requires weighing things, that is why Lady
74. 4:45Justice is holding a scale and not a sawn-off shotgun.”
75. 4:50And telling men as a species to shut up and listen isn’t progress.
76. 4:54It’s sexism.
77. 4:55It’s tempting to dismiss twitter mobs, internet petitioners, and denunciations from angry
78. 5:02ex-co-stars as just a lot of noise.
79. 5:04But people who are subject to such attacks are rightly fearful for their careers.
80. 5:08But the noise seems to have intimidated Mr. Damon.
81. 5:13On January 16, he issued his apology on the Today Show: “Boy, I really wish I’d listened
82. 5:18a lot more before I weighed in on this,” What I wish is that Damon did not have to
83. 5:23issue a ritual recantation—and that men and women could discuss the issues freely
84. 5:28and rationally.
85. 5:29If women and men of good will work together, they can make historic progress in the fight
86. 5:35against sexual harassment and abuse.
87. 5:37But to succeed, the movement is going to have to channel its outrage and confront its own
88. 5:43excesses.
89. 5:45Let me know your thoughts about what I have said in the comments section.
90. 5:48If you liked this video, please show your support by subscribing to the series and following
91. 5:53me on Facebook and Twitter.
92. 5:55Thank you for watching the Factual Feminist.