SEXUAL HARASSMENT ...

Well ... it happened. Al Franken just resigned.  This is a sad day.  I think he was a fantastic senator who fought for the middle class and now he's resigned and we've lost a truly great advocate.  I am heartbroken.  And though I am personally not offended by the above picture (mainly because the photographer stated that it was staged, Franken's hands aren't touching her ... they're hovering over her, and Leeann Tweeden was in on the gag) the fact still remains that more women came forward and Franken was given no choice.  (Can't wait to see how Trump fares when all of his accusers resurface).  Still, it is so hard to see this happen to someone I liked and respected.  


We need to remember that at the time this photo was taken Al Franken was a comedian and not a senator, and Leeann Tweeden was not a 14 year old girl, but a grown woman.  I also have to say that I do have my suspicions with regard to the GOP putting this out there to make him look bad.  It's possible.  Let's not forget the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal.  Granted, Bill was most definitely a sexual predator, but WHO, and I mean WHO keeps a dress with semen on it?  No woman I know. 

Leeann Tweeden accused Franken of grabbing her and kissing her.  First of all, Ms. Tweeden is a regular on Fox News, is a birther and a Trump supporter.  So that right there makes her claims somewhat suspicious. 


According to Leeann, she stated that Al Franken insisted on putting a kiss in the sketch they were rehearsing for their USO show.  She says she finally relented, but she easily could have said "No.  I'm not doing it."  But she did.  She okayed the kiss. 
 

Bottom line .... I do not see her as a victim. 

Here we have Leeann on stage grabbing the guitar player's butt.  But I guess that's different.

And I don’t want to victim shame, I really don't ... but I kind of have to ….

Leeann, how do you expect the public to take you seriously when you pose like this: 

And for good measure, here's one photo of her in her "serious" glasses ...  doesn't she look smart?

She really is pretty huh.

Leann ...

Rule No. 1:  If you want to be taken seriously, wear clothing. 

Now before you all attack me for “victim shaming,” let me explain my position.  This lady feels perfectly OK posing in skimpy costumes and showing her tits.  That’s her prerogative.  But it's also my prerogative to have zero respect for her. 


Women have worked too hard, for too long and have taken too much abuse to have a woman like Leeann Tweeden continue to sell herself as sexual object and then have the nerve to cry sexual harassment.  By allowing herself to be photographed in these provocative poses she reduces herself to a pair of tits and ass (pardon my crude language) and turns the clock back fifty years.  Women who continue to use their sexuality and put themselves out there in this blatantly sexual way is a slap in the face to all the truly courageous women who struggled and fought to advance a woman's place in the workplace and society at large, and that struggle took DECADES to accomplish.  So when a female allows herself to be objectified it not only infuriates me, it makes me sad. 

Don't you see?  YOU'RE WORTH MORE THAN THAT!  And instead of empowering yourself, you actually give your power away.  Now no one will see you for who you are ... you will only be seen as a face and a body.  So don't kid yourself ... because in objectifying yourself you have sold yourself out. 



So, let's not get it twisted.  Leeann Tweeden is NOT a victim.


The 14-year-old girl who was sexually assaulted in a car with a 32-year-old Roy Moore is a VICTIM.  The woman Trump grabbed under her skirt, is a VICTIM.  The women who were raped and sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein, they are VICTIMS.  Not Leeann Tweeden.


We all have a story. Every woman who has ever existed has a story.  And what we don't need is to go back in time.  Women have lived with sexual harassment for so long that we became accustomed to it.  A hand on your ass, a suggestive comment.  "Hey Debbie ... can you make love with those contacts in your eyes?"  Wink Wink.  Throughout history women have dealt with this issue all alone.  We let the pinch on the ass go because, after all it wasn't rape was it?  THIS was the attitude.  NOTHING was ever done to the perpetrator because the man was god and it was your fault because you have the breasts. 

Now we have a chance, a REAL chance to make real changes as to how women are treated in the workplace and in society.  Leeann Tweeden took a situation and manipulated it to serve her and the agenda of the GOP.  This is not helping to advance women when she chooses to pose naked.  Granted, she has the right to present herself in any way she chooses, however, she has to realize that in doing so she hurts other women who are trying to make it in the world based on their intellects and their talents, not their faces or body parts.  This is a very real problem.  Because in allowing yourself to be objectified you are also sanctioning the sexist response of men who continue to treat you like a sexual object.


I hesitated posting this.  I feared catching a lot of hate and being accused of slut shaming.  But I had to post it because I am so passionate about this subject and the differentiation between women who advance the fight and women who do not.  There are so many levels of harassment, and it's all bad.  What Roy Moore did is a crime.  He assaulted TEENAGERS when he was a grown man in his 30's.  And it was an open secret to many in his hometown that he had a penchant for young girls.  When mall security has to speak to you and tell you to stop trolling the mall for young girls you've got a serious problem.  Donald Trump on the other hand, ... well, all you have to do is Google the Access Hollywood tape to remind yourself of his attitude towards women, and yet he is sitting in the Oval Office.  A sexual predator is president of the United States.  If this hypocrisy doesn't elicit a visceral reaction, you're dead.

So I ask Leanne Tweeden ... how do you feel now?