AOC, Dignity & Respect

If you’ve already seen Alexandria Ocasio Cortez response to Rep. Yoho’s misogyny, go ahead and see it again. Her clarity, courage and exemplary dignity call all of us to a higher place. It brings me back to the question we asked some time ago, what would it look like for men to take a public stance against misogyny. Something like “Un Violador en tu Camino.” 

I hear AOC calling something forth in each of us.

What can we do?

And, what is this deep patriarchal instinct that inspires misogynistic rage against powerful women? 

Jessica Bennet offered incisive analysis in the NY Times, A.O.C. and the Daughter Defense.

“Men have often pointed to their relationships with and love for some women — especially wives and daughters — to combat claims that they have mistreated other women,” said Kelly Dittmar, a scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. “We have seen this both inside and outside of politics, especially when men are subject to accusations of sexual harassment and assault.”

...

“As if familial affiliation alone equals enlightened attitudes towards women,” said Susan Douglas, a professor of communication and media at the University of Michigan. “It’s like claiming ‘I have a Black friend‚’ as if that makes you anti-racist.”

...

Or as Ms. Ocasio-Cortez put it: “Having a daughter does not make a man decent. Having a wife does not make a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man.” Why should daughters still have to be a prerequisite to respect?

Dignity and respect. These are attributes of conscious masculinity.

Saludos,

Gibrán