Former New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman is only the latest ally of feminists to turn out to be an accused abuser as well. There is no ideological monopoly on misogyny or patriarchy or sexual harm, a fact that most women have learned from bitter experience. But rather than draw some broad lesson about hypocrisy, the specific tragedy surrounding Schneiderman suggests that those who are serious about ending sexual violence stop pointing fingers, or stroking chins, and start looking in the mirror. Obviously, not all or most or even many allies of the movement — men or women — have committed sins on the scale of what Schneiderman is accused of. Women have to stop excusing men.

Source: Washington Post May 10, 2018 10:02 UTC