The Mary Sue: When we talk about sexual harassment and assault, we often talk about the role of men in the fight against these things. What can men do besides just, you know, not harassing and assaulting women? How can they stand up for women? How can they resist being complicit cogs in the nonstop misogyny machine?
2 comments:
We need more Mike Schurs in this world. Most, if not all, of the shows Mike Schur has created (Brooklyn 99, The Good Place, Parks and Recreation, just to name a few) are models for intelligent, inoffensive comedy. As the creator of all that just good comedy, it is easy to say "I've done enough." It takes real integrity (an integrity that should really be the norm, but I will take what I can get) to acknowledge that you were part of the problem. It is easy, in the wake of all these allegations, to ask for total transparency NOW. But I can appreciate the steps men are taking to acknowledge the benefits of the patriarchy that they have unconsciously reaped, and say that they were unconscious advocates for the patriarchy. I wish that we had more shows that followed the models of Mike Schur's television shows: diverse, intelligent, and most of all, funny.
If anything, I think there needs to be more emphasis on the role of men who are not perpetrators to fight against sexual assault. Often times beginning to think of a solution to instances of assault gets muddled in the effort to cover a story from every angle with every detail. If we begin to focus on how non-perpetrators can help victims and step in to prevent sexual assault in the future, we can begin to heal as a society. We need more men, especially in the entertainment industry, like Mike Schur and Damon Lindelof to speak out against these crimes with the power and privilege they hold as successful men. Often times, as the article mentions, there is a hesitation to talk about these difficult topics out of unwillingness to disclose details about the situation, or simply because assault is uncomfortable to talk about. We need to change this narrative as soon as possible, because not speaking out against it is getting us nowhere.
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