Between Sexual Assault and Sex Panic | Ms. Magazine Blog

In these eye-opening (for some) and unsurprising (for others) days following the recent tsunami of assault and harassment allegations, many are now voicing concern about a potential slippery slope where misplaced erotic fumblings become conflated with assault and workplace harassment.

It’s a reasonable worry with much historical precedent: From trumped up hysteria over Satanic daycare center child abuse rings to the demonizing of gay male sexuality around AIDS and the voluminous sex registries that serve as a modern-day leper colonies, our society has long deflected sexual and gender conundrums onto moral dictums and crusades. But just as we must believe that most men actually understand that masturbating in front of a colleague in a workplace is both wrong and abusive, we must believe that most women understand the difference between the single inappropriate hug or a random sexual joke and rape and harassment.

It is vital to recognize that smaller, less violative, everyday acts of male prerogative contribute to a broader cultural environment that does—across the globe—allow the abuse of women to go unchecked. It is also the case that isolated and more inconsequential acts by men toward women are not co-equal with what we may call assault or harassment.

Here’s the challenge: We must heed both of these truths.

Read the full article on Ms. Magazine Blog.