Sex, Sex, Sex

From a young age, it is drummed into us: you do not discuss politics, religion or sex in polite society. However, since you are unlikely to read a Blog about weather beyond the first sentence, I am going to tread into dangerous waters. The Harvey Weinstein revelations started a tsunami of disclosures about sex within American society which then spread to Great Britain. In fact, the revelations aren’t solely about sex. They concern allegations of rape, bullying and one person exercising power wrongfully against another, usually a woman, who found it difficult, if not impossible, to resist advances at the cost of her career.

Last week, Ohio voters were told by a boastful senior judge that he had been sexually intimate with approximately 50 very attractive females. State Supreme Court Judge Bill O'Neill, who is a Democratic candidate for Governor, posted the claim on Facebook. In a follow-up interview he defended his post which began: "Now that the dogs of war are calling for the head of Senator Al Franken, I believe it is time to speak up on behalf of all heterosexual males." Judge O'Neill claimed his admission would save his opponents wasting time on opposition research. This could be a smart move.

The 70-year-old Democrat went on to describe two of the women and his alleged encounters with them. "It ranged from a gorgeous personal secretary to Senator Bob Taft (Senior) who was my first true love and we made passionate love in the hayloft of her parents’ barn." He later edited the post to clarify it was the secretary - not Senator Taft - with whom he purportedly had sexual relations. Never mind political correctness. Look at the grammar! There is no evidence to suggest the sexual encounters were anything but consensual. Accordingly, I regard the Judge’s disclosures as bad taste, nothing more.

Last week, National Public Radio host, Rachel Martin, gave a personal reflection on sexual-harassment allegations at the public broadcaster. She said that NPR “prided itself on being a place where women and men are treated equally and fairly. That's at the core of who we are. Because of that, this cuts deeper. We have thought of ourselves, perhaps naively, as exempt from something like this.”

Roger Ailes and Bill O'Reilly exited from Fox News amid accusations of sexual harassment. Some observers thought the problem was confined to a single network. Recent allegations that veteran journalist Mike Oreskes harassed women at both NPR and The New York Times have helped shatter that illusion. And this week, mega-journalist, talk show host, Charlie Rose has been accused of sexual harassment. This is of earthquake proportions.

The question, at this point, is: how wide and deep is the media's sexual-harassment problem, not to mention the film industry and the acting profession? A survey project by the Columbia Journalism Review could provide clues. CJR is asking journalists about their personal experiences, whether they have been harassed in newsrooms or witnessed harassment and whether the news outlets that employ them have clear policies and cultures in which victims feel safe to come forward. Hopefully, the project will expose strengths and weaknesses of the media's handling of sexual-harassment claims within its own ranks.

When it comes to senior politicians, there is a long list of sexual predators, going back to the Founding Fathers. Alexander Hamilton was caught in an affair with Maria Reynolds, a married woman. Thomas Jefferson fathered children with Sally Hemmings, a slave. Woodrow Wilson conducted an extra-marital affair when President of Princeton. Warren Harding was a known womaniser when both a US Senator and the President. Franklin Roosevelt conducted a long affair with Lucy Rutherfurd whilst Chief Executive.

More recently, married man Garry “where’s the beef” Hart, then a Presidential candidate, was caught in an affair with Donna Rice. They were pictured together on a yacht, “Monkey Business.” Newt Gingrich got caught out in an affair with a staffer when he was with wife number two. Clinton and Lewinsky remains a cause celebre even today. And another Presidential hopeful, John Edwards, conducted an affair during his run for the Presidency when his wife was dying from cancer. Accusations against President Trump of being a sexual predator surfaced during the 2016 campaign. Trump has denied the allegations but the lawsuits are pending.

Judge Roy Moore of Alabama, a candidate for the US Senate, is ensnared in a sex scandal, allegedly having relations with six teenagers. And Minnesota US Senator, Al Franken, is the subject of forcible kiss and grope allegations that took place eleven years ago. Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor condemned both her colleague O’Neill and other sex predators: "No words can convey my shock. This gross disrespect for women shakes the public's confidence in the integrity of the judiciary," and, by extension, politicians.

If people exercise undue influence over others, especially minors, for sexual gratification, it is plainly wrong and needs to stop. Whether criminal action should follow will depend on the strength of evidence. However, if adults conduct consensual liaisons of a sexual nature, they may be morally at fault but nothing else. What troubles me in this spate of disclosures and allegations, both in USA and here in the UK, is the number of years which it seems have passed since the alleged events complained of took place not to mention the issue of proof.

What troubles me more is that sexual harassment seems to be in the culture of certain stratas of society in both the US and UK. We don’t need new laws. I am sure there are criminal statutes available to prosecute the perpetrators and in both nations, there is no legal bar to civil proceedings. So, the question is: how do you change people’s minds and behaviour? And this question relates to both the offenders and those who have suffered at their hands.

I understand that people will have been scarred by what happened to them but, surely, if the event occurred more than ten years ago, it’s time to let it go or, at the very least, come clean with why it was kept quiet. Looking back at my own life, should I be worried that a misplaced fumble sixty years ago or more will now come back to haunt me? If so, would I remember the girl in question or would it all be imagination?