The #MeToo Cultural Revolution

What could possibly go wrong? You unleash the feminist furies against male sexual predators. You unleash the dogs of culture war against men. You create a political campaign to blame and shame men for sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexual innuendo. You do not distinguish between egregiously criminal activity and bad jokes. You subject such men to high-tech lynchings… destroying their careers and their families. No due process. No distinctions. No nothing.

What could go wrong?

Better yet, you launch this crusade in the name of a failed presidential candidate who owed her political ascent to her ability to defend and enable her sexually predatory husband.

Will contradictions never cease?

Among other things, when you produce an atmosphere of unremitting suspicion and hostility someone is going to get hurt. If you put out vitriolic hatred, do not be surprised of you get some of it back.

One result, as occasionally noted on this blog, is that women in the workplace have become a threat. Why would any man risk his career, his family and his life in order to mentor a young woman, especially an attractive young woman? His wife would never allow it. Thus, as a Bloomberg article reports, yet again, more and more men are refusing to hire and refusing to mentor young women.

And, you can feel confident that men who speak to reporters are downplaying the corporate shunning of threatening females.

So, women are going to pay a price for this orgy of recriminations and attacks. Worse yet, for those who can think their way out of a paper bag, women associate with men outside of work, in situations that are not defined by workplace relationships. Do you really believe that in this hostile culture environment men and women are more or less likely to get along. If a man is being told to zip it up when on the job, how is he going to behave when he is off the job. Let's be extra clear: there are lots of ways to hurt another person, ways that are perfectly legal and that do not involve assaultive or even bad behavior.

Bloomberg has the story. Though, this already feels like an old story:

No more dinners with female colleagues. Don’t sit next to them on flights. Book hotel rooms on different floors. Avoid one-on-one meetings.

In fact, as a wealth adviser put it, just hiring a woman these days is “an unknown risk.” What if she took something he said the wrong way?

Across Wall Street, men are adopting controversial strategies for the #MeToo era and, in the process, making life even harder for women.

Naturally, the feminist Red Guards who are leading the charge think that all will be well if men just do the right thing.

This is hardly a single-industry phenomenon, as men across the country check their behavior at work, to protect themselves in the face of what they consider unreasonable political correctness -- or to simply do the right thing. The upshot is forceful on Wall Street, where women are scarce in the upper ranks. The industry has also long nurtured a culture that keeps harassment complaints out of the courts and public eye, and has so far avoided a mega-scandal like the one that has engulfed Harvey Weinstein.

Of course, no one knows what the right thing is any more. And besides, why do you imagine that women have absolutely no say in any of this? Didn’t feminism teach us that women want sex as much as men? Do women never flirt at work? Do they never attempt to use their feminine charms as a pathway to more promotions? Perhaps these are just a minority of the cases, but #MeTooism portrays women as hapless and helpless victims. So much for strong and empowered....

As noted above, most men refuse to speak openly about their way of dealing with this cultural revolution:

While the new personal codes for dealing with #MeToo have only just begun to ripple, the shift is already palpable, according to the people interviewed, who declined to be named. They work for hedge funds, law firms, banks, private equity firms and investment-management firms.

For obvious reasons, few will talk openly about the issue. Privately, though, many of the men interviewed acknowledged they’re channeling Pence, saying how uneasy they are about being alone with female colleagues, particularly youthful or attractive ones, fearful of the rumor mill or of, as one put it, the potential liability.

Why take the risk? In the end this movement of mindless and intemperate outrage is going to bite women back.

A manager in infrastructure investing said he won’t meet with female employees in rooms without windows anymore; he also keeps his distance in elevators. A late-40-something in private equity said he has a new rule, established on the advice of his wife, an attorney: no business dinner with a woman 35 or younger.

The changes can be subtle but insidious, with a woman, say, excluded from casual after-work drinks, leaving male colleagues to bond, or having what should be a private meeting with a boss with the door left wide open.

Let’s be a little serious here. Even if you believe that women are unfairly excluded from after work drinks, shouldn't you also notice that a woman who has young children at home will prefer to spend time helping them with their homework or having dinner with them than carousing with the boys. This applies also to a woman who is married but does not have children or even a woman who wants to have a life outside of work. Do women really want to spend their after-work time in a sports bar throwing down shots.

And of course, the great minds of feminism have decided that the fault lies with men:

In this charged environment, the question is how the response to #MeToo might actually end up hurting women’s progress. Given the male dominance in Wall Street’s top jobs, one of the most pressing consequences for women is the loss of male mentors who can help them climb the ladder.

“There aren’t enough women in senior positions to bring along the next generation all by themselves,” said Lisa Kaufman, chief executive officer of LaSalle Securities. “Advancement typically requires that someone at a senior level knows your work, gives you opportunities and is willing to champion you within the firm. It’s hard for a relationship like that to develop if the senior person is unwilling to spend one-on-one time with a more junior person.”

Men have to step up, she said, and “not let fear be a barrier.”

When you spend your time inducing fear, don’t complain that fear is a barrier.

So, what is #MeToo really all about? If I had to take a wild guess I would say that it’s about ginning up females to vote in elections. Make all women feel empathy for those women who have been harassed and propel them to the ballot box. After all, the feminist matriarchy has decided that the eminently unlikable Hillary Clinton lost the election because women did not come out and vote for her. They ignore the possibility that women simply despised the Dowager Duchess of Chappaqua for her morally reprehensible behavior toward women and did not fall for her decidedly flimsy resume.

Just as Democrats run around yelling about racism in order to gin up black voters and just as they yell about anti-Semitism to push Jewish voters to cast ballots for them, feminist Democrats have found in #MeToo a way to increase Democratic votes, especially among suburban women.

It’s going to be bad for women in business and in life, but it was, if the last elections were any evidence, good for Democrats. And, in the end, that’s what really matters, don’t you think?