Kill The Beast

Yes. I am that guy who feels a little hurt when the discussion turns to how "all men are pigs." Mostly because I don't have a good argument against it. Even though I have spent my life trying to live as an exception to this assertion, I know that James Brown was right: It's A Man's Man's Man's World. And this is not because there aren't women who are up to leading or taking charge. The men keep making the rules. And changing them. They change them to suit themselves and to keep their limited hold on the galaxy through their favorite ploys: rhetoric and brute force.
There is not better example of this foul reality than the current occupant of the White House. No matter how much evidence piles up in front of us, we seem content to let all the other curiosities mashed into his character capture our attention. How did this brute end up in one of the most powerful positions on the planet when he has no sense whatsoever about how to treat other human beings? Treating them like real estate or steaks? He can do that. And for the human race to accept this behavior in 2017 seems to suggest that we only have ourselves to blame.
I used to do a bit about why I was no good at dating. I told people that I missed that day in seventh grade when they showed us the movie about how boys and girls should interact, leaving me with no understanding of the process. I am eternally grateful for those women who took the time and patience to try and explain why "being a good guy" was worthwhile and how my non-threatening tendencies allowed me to forge a great many close relationships with people outside of my own gender.
That doesn't mean that I didn't encounter bad behavior. I went to a public high school, and learned to objectify women just like my friends. I began to see how the pursuit of women was a manly thing and it was all a rite of passage. Tracking and enslaving my own girlfriend would take up a great portion of my brain's capacity for several years.
But it never really made sense to me. I also came of age at the time of the publication of the first issue of Ms. Magazine. The suggestion of "equal rights for women" seemed so natural to me that I never fully understood why it was such a struggle. Looking back, I see how poor my hindsight was. And my foresight. I still live in a world where men's accomplishments are lauded while women are asked "who are you wearing?" on the red carpet. I live in a country where the title "Madame President" is one found only in science fiction. I live in a time when there are still "excuses" for men to harass women, as if it were some part of the natural order.
It is not. It is the part of manhood that still clings to a time when the appendix was still a necessary organ and dial-up was the best alternative for a connection to Al Gore's Internet. Sure, it helps to be rich and powerful. Riches and power that come as part of that package of being a man who flaunts his "manliness" in ways that torment and attack others. The question of appropriateness shouldn't be a part of the equation. There is no appropriate way to victimize anyone. This is not higher order thinking. Neanderthals had support groups for such things. Why is sexual harassment still a thing?
Maybe because when I look at reruns of Star Trek, imagining the future of mankind, I note the length of the skits on the female crew members. Who are they wearing? The future. Does that mean we have to wait another generation before we all get matching jumpsuits? And a woman can captain a starship?
Maybe not. Now that the beast has crawled once again into the light, let's kill it.
For good.