Imaginary Landscape

Every Christmas for the past few years, people become horrified by the lyrics of a (this year) 74-year old Christmas song. I remember when my stepdaughter first heard “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” A relatively new college student with little cultural context, unaware of the song’s age, but immersed in all she was learning from professors steeped in women’s studies, cultural revisionism, and fear of “triggering” someone, she was aghast that such a song could exist.   Let me say right here, I advocate women’s studies; it is long past the time when the perspectives, contributions, and subculture (drowning in patriarchy) of women was brought to light. And my stepdaughter is no dummy. But many of us, at the tender age of a few years out of high school, fell into the trap of subconsciously thinking that the world began the day we were born. This illusion is magnified by the internet and social media, where hoaxes, warnings, and images of people who are either heroes or villains are p

According to the CDC, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men experience sexual assault. About 60% of  those persons do not report the assault for many reasons, including guilt, shame, certainty of not being believed, fear of retribution from the assaulter, fear that their assaulter will not be punished, and brutal treatment at the hands of family, law personnel, and judicial personnel. When women talk about these things, nearly everyone has a story about assault, attempted rape, rape, abuse, and incest. When victims do come forward, they are told that they were in the wrong place, that the person they are blaming couldn’t do such things, that they dressed wrong, that they “wanted” it, that they have responsibility to keep men in check, that men can’t help themselves – the excuses are nearly numberless. These experiences are part of what fostered the #MeToo movement. They most often involve an accused who is an employer, someone in power, with authority, in control of the victim’s career, fu