Photo credit: Lashe Bengke | Dreamstime.com

In the wake of the Weinstein sex abuse and assault allegations, social media has been abuzz with the #metoo hashtag campaign. Despite the beautiful idea underpinning the campaign it didn't take long for me to notice a couple of disturbing trends. The Christian Science Monitor's headline is a perfect example of the erasure of men's issues. "Women join forces against sexual assault with 'me too' social media campaign."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Nobody believes men when they say they have been abused. <br>They are ridiculed and taunted. <br><br>men abuse is real<br> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/meToo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#meToo</a></p>— sherry ShayD (@sherry_shay ) <a href="https://twitter.com/sherry_shay /status/919875572632899584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 16, 2017</a></blockquote>

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Why only women, though? Oh, right, because according to the narrative, men can only be the aggressors in physical or sexual assault situations. This situation cuts fairly deep as well. The legal definition of rape renders a woman literally incapable of rape unless she penetrates her victim for instance. I, for one, am an egalitarian and as such believe that a woman is capabe of anything that a man could do. That includes evils and atrocities. Oddly, the "halo effect" that protects women from stiff sentences a man might receive isn't considered one of the "dangerous gender stereotypes" feminism is concerned with eradicating.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Women to men.<br>Men to women.<br>Women to women.<br>Men to men. <br><br>This happens daily.<br>HUMAN TO HUMAN.<br>It needs to stop.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MeToo?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MeToo</a></p>— Emily Pawluk (@emipaw) <a href="https://twitter.com/emipaw/status/919801854833422337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 16, 2017</a></blockquote>

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Then there was the <i>Salon</i> treatment:

<quote>We can’t ignore that the same kinds of men prey on men and boys, too.</quote>

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<strong><h4>Derailing FTW</strong></h4>

Because only men can rape, remember. (Oh, and please do ignore the complicity of several female staffers who acted as honeypots to lure victims and/or engaged in the cover-up of Weinstein's abuses)

Myriam S. Denov of McGill professor at the School of Social Work at the McGill University wrote the book on female sex perpetration, <i>Perspectives on Female Sex Offending: A Culture of Denial</i>.

<blockquote>“While the prevalence rates of female sex offending are small when compared to rates of male sex offending, there is evidence to suggest that sexual abuse by females may be under-recognized,” “Perspectives on Female Sex Offending: A Culture of Denial.”</blockquote>

Dr. Denov warns of “a widespread denial of women as potential sexual aggressors that could work to obscure the true dimensions of the problem."

In 19% of the cases of sexual assault by a person in a figure of authority, the abuser was female. An international review of statistics revealed around 10% of sexual offenders were female. Despite that, less than 2% of the incarcerated sex offender population is behind bars. A 2012 study from the US Census Bureau reports an astounding 43.6% of responders who admitted to forcing sex on another were female.

Or take the treatment of Corey Feldman, for instance. The child actor famed for his part in The Lost Boys has been speaking out about the rampant sexual abuse and child exploitation in Hollywood. When he advised parents of children who wanted to act against getting involved in a scene full of rapists and rape enablers, Barbara Walters disparaged Corey for "damaging an entire industry."

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<strong><h4>All victims should be believed, but men fib</strong></h4>

Probably the most gut-wrenching for me was seeing, first hand via screencaps, the #MeToo backlash against male victims. Are the feminists who are basically telling guys to "just man up" guilty of toxic masculinity, I wonder? This feminist who urged the male victim of abuse to remember to focus on how many women don't commit these crimes. No seriously, did she just #NotAllWomen?

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<strong><h4>#NotAllWomen</strong></h4>

One brave soul admitted he'd been taken advantage of multiple times. He faced ridicule. "I was six for f*ck's sake." Was met with, "Jesus Christ, there's always that guy." What, you mean the guy who faced abuse and mistreatment several times and no matter how many times he tried to open up was shut down? Yeah, F*CK THAT GUY!

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<strong><h4>Damn VICTIMS being VICTIMIZED and all!</strong></h4>

The most sickening type of victim blaming and shifting of culpability occurs occasionally when a man is willing to bare his painful past. Then there are accusations of "derailing the argument." Because evidently, #metoo is only about men abusing women. #metoo for men is likened to All Lives Matter or "screaming about testicular cancer at a breast cancer awareness rally" as the tired old platitude goes.

Greg shared his experience over the years:

Things I’ve been told or experienced when being overheard admitting to having been raped by a woman as a child…It's nowhere near exhaustive.

Liar.

You must have wanted it.

Impossible.

You’re lucky.

You’re privileged by it.

Women never do that sort of thing.

It’s harmless.

Laughter.

I’ve been hit.

I’ve been threatened.

I’ve been called a poofter, a fag, gay, a misogynist.

I’ve been told it’s hateful to women.

I’ve had feminists, who have also done all of the above, patiently explain how my male privilege prevented my aunt from NOT doing what she did.

Brent was also willing to open up for this article:

"For me, I have been blackmailed into sex because my ex-used to self-injure if I turned down sex with her. What do I do with that? What do I call that? I was with her for ten years. My consent was whittled away.

She was an abuse victim herself. When we first got together she used to wrestle with me to get my pants open. I'd say "no" and push he off. If she had had the strength, she would have forced me but she didn't. So she learned other means.

What do I need to call that? Rape, coerced sex, abuse? Doesn't matter to me. It was traumatizing and formative.

I think my experiences matter. I think men;s and women's experiences matter.

Leave the tallying to the fembots. We're on about life and talking."

To be perfectly clear, I am <i>not</i> attempting to "derail the conversation" or demean any survivors of any sort of sexual abuse or harassment. These kinds of horrendous acts leave scars for life. It is completely unconscionable and anyone who has gone through any sort of abuse of this nature has my full sympathy. Sadly, not everyone feels all victims of abuse have a right to be heard.

Many thanks to those fearless anti-feminists at Honey Badger Radio as well as Brent, Sean, David, and Greg. Only the names of the victimizers have been completely obscured because to quote Vonnegut "since God Almighty protects the innocent as a matter of Heavenly routine."