Why is it an inquisition for women (and men) to talk about the ways that they have been abused — and that our society and institutions have historically turned a blind eye to that? Powerful men are perhaps more likely to do it (because they are more likely to get away with it — because we live in a dominance hierarchy). But the sheer volume of numbers and numbers of companies and institutions belies dismissing this as some kind of politicized scheme.

The CDC says that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 6 men have been the victims of some kind of sexualized violence — most of that at the hands of men. But I’ve never actually met a woman of any age or demographic who hasn’t been touched by it in some way — repeatedly, so I’d say that 33% is probably on the very low side. Sexual harassment is a form of bullying. It’s putting women in their place by making them feel vulnerable and reminding them of what they are actually there for. It’s dominance posturing using sex as the weapon.

People like you who want to pretend that’s not an actual problem of epidemic proportions are the reason that it is an epidemic. Most men don’t behave this way, but it only takes a few and the rest to turn a blind eye, to create these kinds of institutionalized hellscapes.