Victims and Harassers Don’t Have Character Descriptions

With all of the women coming forward about sexual assault/harassment recently, there has been a great response of people actually taking action and taking down the harassers. However, there has been some difference in response depending on the type of person accusing and being accused. People seem to not put male victims or female harassers to the same level as their female and male counterparts. It seems to me that men can not be sexually assaulted and women can’t be sexual assaulters, according to popular belief. Some might think that men have more power than women do and so they would be able to escape situations like that. Others believe that women don’t have enough power or control over others to sexually assault. I think this is an insanely closed-minded idea of what a victim and a harasser is.

At the beginning of December, a women named Timothy Heller accused singer Melanie Martinez of rape. Those two had been long time friends when the assault took place. On Heller’s Twitter account she posted a story detailing what happened; in it she mentions how hard it was for her to accept what had happened because of how close their friendship was. Heller’s story had some mixed reviews. Many people supported her, while some fans of Melanie Martinez even shared videos of them throwing away her merchandise; but many didn’t. A lot of people were quick to come to Heller’s defense however, calling out the double standards, commenting how if it was a man being accused she would be getting way more support. I fully agree with these people: I think it’s way easier for some to believe a man assaulting someone than a woman assaulting someone.

Another case of a double standard is seen in the case of Terry Crews. Near the beginning of the spread of the #MeToo movement, actor and former NFL player Terry Crews came forward with his own story. He detailed on Twitter how he was at a party, meeting with a high up agent when that same agent groped him. Crews was originally reluctant to come forward with his story when it happened but, due to the recent spur or outings of harassers, he chose to share it. Just like in the case of Heller, Crews had a mix of backlash and support. The people against him said that as a 6’3’’ 240 pound man he should’ve been able to fight back. Crews responded to this in an interview with ABC News on December 28th. He said how he had known that as a big African American man that if he were to fight back then he would have been portrayed as a thug who had attacked someone for no reason. He had also explained that the reason he had hesitated to come forward with the story in the beginning was that as someone starting in the entertainment industry he wouldn’t have had much support and would’ve lost a lot of hope of ever getting any roles. Why he even came forward now was largely due to the #MeToo movement.

When it comes down to it, harassment is pictured as this powerful man controlling a helpless woman and this is just not always the case. Harassment can be from a man, a woman, a friend, a family member- it is not just one type of person. It should be taken just as seriously no matter who it involves and the victims should never be scared of what might happen to them if they came forward.

Works Cited

http://thebsblog.com/2017/11/14/602-katie-discusses-sexual-assault-college-impacted-life/

#sexualassault #harassment #gender #victim #assaulter #terrycrews #melaniemartinez #metoo