R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I have participated in some conversations where women have said that if we ruled the world, it would be a better place. That the men have messed it up so badly and for so long, that we need a chance to run the show. That it would somehow be a more wonderful place with no war and no strife. Just give us the power, and we'll show you what we can do.

Suzanne Barr has badly let us sisters down. Chief of staff to the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a friend of Janet Napolitano, Barr has just resigned after allegations of some very blatant and aggressive sexual harassment of men. She denies it all, of course, and I don't have the inside story. It just makes me very sad if it's true that she and Napolitano would create the kind of hostile environment for men that we women have been dealing with for years. It is wrong when women are the victims, and it is just as wrong when men are the victims.

Is this what we do with our power? Is this how we show gratitude to women of previous generations who sacrificed so that we can be on an even footing with men? And sexual harassment is about power, much more than it is about sex. The ones in power don't hire and advance people, because they are men. The ones in power make crude jokes and suggestive comments and even offer up sex, creating a hostile and untenable work environment. Do they think that men are not going to speak up? Do they think men are supposed to take it? I would hope the mentality is not that turn about is fair play, that because women have been victims of sexual harassment for years, it is now open season on men.

It's never funny or amusing to degrade another human being. I thought we women have been striving for respect. Well, we aren't going to get it unless we can give it.

Susan