I received a post from an acquaintance on Facebook. He said that he has had enough with Harvey Weinstein being in the papers every day. He reasoned we are making Harvey famous, "writing his biography in the mass media." I would say we make him infamous by publicizing his extended felonies. Every time we mention his name we should follow it with, "never again."
The only way to unmask and unempower the boogieman is to display him naked with all his warts exposed - oops I should watch my phraseology - that is figuratively naked, not literally, so Harvey don't get excited.
As to my male acquaintance's comments, I am appalled that a man (a person of the male gender) would put his two cents into the discussion about sexual harassment of women. Which dog in the fight is his? We should never forget Harvey Weinstein, or Andrew Weiner or Bill Cosby or any of the men with position that used that position to harass and molest and rape with impunity.
What is my dog in the fight? I feel a moral duty to "be a man, and do the right thing by any other human." I seek no power for myself; I seek justice for those wronged.
What Harvey Weinstein did and what he represents is of ultimate importance to remember for every American if we want to be true to the Constitution and keep America the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. It should not take a truly brave person to say, no I won't do that. Freedom of choice is a basic freedom of Americans. Look who they choose and President.
All of America should repeat every morning on waking and every evening on going to sleep, I will not intimidate another human to gratify myself. I will not use others against their will. It is always wrong and shameful. Should a truly ethical and moral person even need to remind themselves of this. But what we have in America today is a lack of morality, replaced by avarice and a need to succeed over the dignity of self. This is not rocket science it is simple human ethics. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
Harvey, Bill, Andrew, President Clinton all broke the law without fear of punishment. Yes thank you Cy Vance and all the other D.A. who don't understand the simple term "no." Shame on you and shame on your brethren. I will define no - nyet, non - for you. NO as in stop, don't touch me. I am not consenting to this contact. It may not be in Latin, the language of the Law, but your first language is English correct? No means negatory response to your offer big boy. The flashing red light means stop, do not proceed down this road.
My acquaintance used the excuse that with so many other causes needing support - the Hurricanes recoveries, and the wild fire victims and black people matters, and our President eroding our freedoms while distracting us with hurricane recoveries, and fire victims and NRA-white supremacists, etc. that we should not put Harvey Weinstein first. Other situations merit our attention more. Really? BTW is it just coincidence that the hurricane in Texas was named ... Harvey.
Getting back to my buddy's statement about other causes are more urgent or first in line. I did not realize that empathy and energy to accomplish moral goals had a cumulative limit. "Oh no. I've no more energy to do the right thing. I'll just ignore evil exists. If I think about Harvey Weinstein, I won't be able to think about Harvey the hurricane's victims. Or the victims of the fires in California. I'm so limited.
I was further appalled, because his Facebook statement received praise and thumbs up from several women we both know - friends in common. I am sure that if any of the women sexually harassed had been their daughters or themselves they would not limit the publicity concerning Harvey Weinstein. Harvey lost his position in the film industry - so freakin' what. His marriage will break up. What marriage, he was screwing around on his wife for 40? years. The first women he harassed through his producer's office represented degradation of every women in America. Objectify one, objectify all.
Why have laws at all, if we enforce them inconsistently, and with an eye toward the felon's wallet.
Today, every male and many women in the film industry claim, "I did not know he was ... "
Yeah, how often have we heard that before. In the worst juxtaposition I can propose, I remember the "good Nazis" at the Nuremberg Trials saying, "I just did my job, I did not know of the exterminations in the camps."
And remember those who could not deny knowing said, they could not speak up for fear of losing ... you fill in the blank. Humans balance risks to themselves with personal gains and make decisions. It is a faulty method to evaluate moral actions.
The expression describing the knowledge of Harvey Weinstein's activities is "it was an open secret in the industry. Harvey was a predator." That makes every agent who sent a poor female alone up to Harvey's hotel suite a pimp who was waiting to claim his fifteen percent of the deal.
Finally brave women spoke out are to be praised, but what took so long. It's like a Greek morality play where the poor flawed hero or in this case heroine is tested by the Gods, put through lengthy trials and finally when his metal is proven, he dies. As a society, we have failed the test. We have chosen poorly. We have chosen selfishly. We have chosen the wrong path.
We are lost.
Not just with sexual harassment, but with racial discrimination and religious prejudice and narcissistic moral decay. Each time we chose the wrong response in reference to another's situation, we bring our personal demise closer, because we all have differences waiting to be exploited.
Our President as an icon represents present day America to a tee, narcissistic, greedy, and without an honest bone in his skeleton.
Why should an actress have to decide between her dream of being a star and her dignity. Why must she sacrifices one for the other.
She should never have to make that choice, especially knowing that in this male oriented society, her word - if she speaks out - may be taken as a lie (self-serving, bitter because she lost the part or etc.). All this while the big honcho's sociopathic lies are considered the truth without questioning. What reason does he have to lie? Everyone, he is a felon. Felons lie to avoid being caught.
Does this scenario ring true on a national level. It was Hitler who said, if you tell a lie, make it a big one, because they are harder to perceive as untrue.
It is not just in the film industry. Why is Ezekiel Elliot still carrying the football? Hell the professional football players will take a knee to protest Black Lives Matter, but when the black life is a woman's ... oh well, just hand him the ball and let him run for America's team.
So whenever a woman speaks out against the Harvey Weinstein's and the Bill Cosby's and all the others who use power to obtain their way - think Uber, Fashion, and many other industries - they must be praised as the bravest of warriors. Unless they have it on video tape - think Ray Rice's episode - plus the offender has exhausted his usefulness in his industry (Harvey Weinstein), the women has a even money chance of not being heard or believed.
Susan Fowler is iconic in her courageous unmasking of such activity at Uber. And yet the women on the board when asked to investigate the situation denied such activity occurred on a consistent basis. The section of Uber where Susan was employed started out 25% female and now is 6%, guess a lot of engineers got pregnant and took maternity level together, but it was not from their supervisors. We swear.
The women who were asked to "clear Uber" show that avarice knows no gender. How can a stockholder or even an Eric Holder be objective in the face of millions of dollars.
So for all you fans of feminist rights, remember this phrase you are going to hear it so often in the future.
I DID NOT KNOW THAT (You fill in the blank) WAS DOING THAT.
Ignorance is bliss.
To advocates of Black Lives Matter: I DID NOT KNOW THAT RACIAL PROFILING REALLY EXISTS.
Forty years from now, the time era from 2000 to 2025 will be know as the dumb ass era, because nobody knew nothing about anything that was going on except as it happened to them. Every one is a moron who only smartens up when it is their ass on the line. Take that any way you want.
Every known story of sexual harassment should be repeated in every newspaper, every day for the next five years. You tell these stories to your daughters, forewarned is forearmed. "I don't know" is unacceptable and "never forget" is the operative motto. Always beware because society will not defend you, you are on your own.
Women need to resist the power plays of men when it is against the woman's better interest, and in that rare situation where it is a man that is being intimidated by the power of another that man must have the strength and the will to act in his best interest too. Resist the manipulation and become a hero or heroine. Every human deserve the respect they demand. Demand your respect everyday.
-- L.A. Preschel
Monday, October 23, 2017
Monday, October 9, 2017
Not Every leader is Famous
In 1971, Judith Schffler broke ground in corporate America. She passed from this earth near the end of September 2017, but the repercussions of her achievement will last longer than her time on earth.
She may not be famous in the obvious sense of the word, but she pioneered change in the way corporations in America think about female employees. Her talent forced A.T. & T's to promote her to a position of authority.
Judith was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania in a time when most teenage girls in American high schools concentrated on home-ec(nomics) courses. Many people - men and women - thought a female went to college to earn not a B.A. but her Mrs. As if that were the crowning achievement for a female. We know such limitations are just B.S. Those letters represent another degree, women of the 1950's and 60's were not expected to earn in college, but Judith had other ideas.
From Canonsburg High School Judith matriculated to the Carnegie Institute of Technology - now called Carnegie Mellon University. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Technical Writing and Electrical Engineering. Women engineers in the 1960's were rarer than five-legged camels wandering Madison Square Park.
In 1965, Judy found a job at A.T. & T. Bell Laboratory. During her employment at Bell Labs, she earned a Master of Science degree in Computer Sciences. She also found time to raise two daughters.
Her management of her time and her education must have impressed the powers that be, because in 1971, she became one of the first female supervisors at Bell Labs.
But that was just the first line to be crossed by Judith.
In 1989, A.T. & T. promoted her to an executive position. Maybe a male who had demonstrated her level of knowledge and talent would have been promoted up the ladder faster, but Judy was an undeniable force that broke through the barrier of sexual bias to achieve the impossible. She was named Chief Information Officer and Vice-President of a large business unit of Lucent Technologies.
Subsequently, she was offered early retirement, when corporate consolidation was under way in 1998.
She took advantage of the offer to retreat from the pressures of work. She lived in Maine and Florida, and maintained a home in Delaware.
In 2004, Judith Scheffler authored an edited collection of essays concerning the challenges a pioneering female executive faced in the male dominated corporate environment, "Beyond the Corner Office," is a history and an memoir and an autobiography of sorts, but mostly, it is a road map disclosing the potholes that threaten to unseat a feminist corporate administrator on her ride to the corner office.
Those who do not know the history of their environment, are doomed to repeat the mistakes and slip into all the potholes on the journey. Judith's legacy is to point them out so they can be avoided. When I was training to be a surgeon, I was often told know your enemies, meaning know where the danger and complications lie in the surgical field. I would offer that advice to any executive on the raise, and Judith describes a whole bunch of enemies that block the way for female executives.
She remains an unknown, unsung feminist pioneer to most, but now she is known to you.
-- L.A. Preschel
She may not be famous in the obvious sense of the word, but she pioneered change in the way corporations in America think about female employees. Her talent forced A.T. & T's to promote her to a position of authority.
Judith was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania in a time when most teenage girls in American high schools concentrated on home-ec(nomics) courses. Many people - men and women - thought a female went to college to earn not a B.A. but her Mrs. As if that were the crowning achievement for a female. We know such limitations are just B.S. Those letters represent another degree, women of the 1950's and 60's were not expected to earn in college, but Judith had other ideas.
From Canonsburg High School Judith matriculated to the Carnegie Institute of Technology - now called Carnegie Mellon University. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Technical Writing and Electrical Engineering. Women engineers in the 1960's were rarer than five-legged camels wandering Madison Square Park.
In 1965, Judy found a job at A.T. & T. Bell Laboratory. During her employment at Bell Labs, she earned a Master of Science degree in Computer Sciences. She also found time to raise two daughters.
Her management of her time and her education must have impressed the powers that be, because in 1971, she became one of the first female supervisors at Bell Labs.
But that was just the first line to be crossed by Judith.
In 1989, A.T. & T. promoted her to an executive position. Maybe a male who had demonstrated her level of knowledge and talent would have been promoted up the ladder faster, but Judy was an undeniable force that broke through the barrier of sexual bias to achieve the impossible. She was named Chief Information Officer and Vice-President of a large business unit of Lucent Technologies.
Subsequently, she was offered early retirement, when corporate consolidation was under way in 1998.
She took advantage of the offer to retreat from the pressures of work. She lived in Maine and Florida, and maintained a home in Delaware.
In 2004, Judith Scheffler authored an edited collection of essays concerning the challenges a pioneering female executive faced in the male dominated corporate environment, "Beyond the Corner Office," is a history and an memoir and an autobiography of sorts, but mostly, it is a road map disclosing the potholes that threaten to unseat a feminist corporate administrator on her ride to the corner office.
Those who do not know the history of their environment, are doomed to repeat the mistakes and slip into all the potholes on the journey. Judith's legacy is to point them out so they can be avoided. When I was training to be a surgeon, I was often told know your enemies, meaning know where the danger and complications lie in the surgical field. I would offer that advice to any executive on the raise, and Judith describes a whole bunch of enemies that block the way for female executives.
She remains an unknown, unsung feminist pioneer to most, but now she is known to you.
-- L.A. Preschel
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Feminism is the right to reach your full potential - no matter the field of play
Feminism is about women being allowed to reach their full potential and enrich the universe with their unique abilities. There should be no qualifications, asterisks, or separate but equal denotations as it relates to opportunities and accomplishments in this world.
Man, woman and child as long as they are not endangering themselves should be allowed to compete on the highest level to show their talent. Some would say even self-protection does not deter a true feminist like Joan of Arc.
How can someone show their greatness unless they are tested to the point of failure or ultimate success, vanquishing all their competition. Contesting against the best, brings out your best and shows who is the best. That is what the Olympics are about. That is what life should be about.
No artificial man-made limits to protect/advantage selected competitors to the detriment of others. Darwin did not propose a theory that in a natural state, only the strongest win, and the weaker shrink to the sidelines, becoming extinct.
Deanna Guzman already has won the state championship in the shot put, so she has proved she is a top-level athlete. Guzman who describes herself as a geeky book reader, is also a role model.
This fall as a high school senior she has tried out for and made her high school's football team. It is not the flag football team, but the "boy's" football team. She not only made it through the rigorous training camp, running laps like any player when she made a mistake, but she is a starting offensive tackle. On the record, multiple male teammates respect her as an athlete, not as a female athlete, but as a peer.
Kamil Vickers a 300 pound tackle on her team stated, "she is not afraid to get hit or to mix it up. ... She's like a ball of energy. That's the kind of thing teams need nowadays."
Deanna stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 205 pounds. She can bench press 150 pounds. She earned her starting position and she earns mention in this blog. She is a pioneering woman, breaking new ground for women. High school records show that Deanna is the first female to make a varsity "boy's" football team in New Jersey as an on the field player.
Her coach noted that because of Deanna, several other female students have told him they are thinking about trying out next year. Alexis Littlejohn (14 years-old) has told the coach she was inspired by Deanna, and she will definitely be at tryouts next year.
Deanna has become a leader/role model outside her school as well.
In Pop Warner Football in Newark, several girls are now playing on "boy's" teams. Many are starting and they are recognized by their teammates as playing at the high level needed to win games. Quite a few of them have heard of Deanna and look forward to walking in the path she is clearing.
In one obvious difficult parental situation, 12 year-old Madison Jacobs, played against her younger brother, Javon Swain (10) in a Pop Warner game, but then aren't brothers and sisters always fighting and tackling each other. I feel sorry for Mom, Avia Jacobs, who has to play referee on the ride home from the game. A tie satisfies no one, but sure would decrease the acrimony before eating dinner.
Back to Deanna, she has had to overcome more than just gender bias to be the athlete she is. On her 13th birthday, while walking to school, she was struck by a speeding car. She suffered multiple fractures, some of which required open reductions and internal fixations. She had a rod inserted in her femur (the bone between the knee and hip joints) and wires were used to hold the bones about her shoulder to the rest of her arm. After she healed sufficiently, she needed extensive physical therapy to relearn how to walk. She needed to strengthening and to regain motion to return her arm to full function. Imagine how hard she worked so that now she can play football or bench press 150 pounds.
She became the state champion in the shot put and a starting tackle on her football team.
If she never does anything else in her life (and I would not bet against that) she is already a very special person. She is a leader and a success story.
Deanna is a pretty stylish, athletic geek. She reads books on brain function and urban communities's socioeconomic conditions and how they affect young people. Like I said earlier, I won't bet against her changing the world in the future, nope, not me.
She has figured out a part of the puzzle who is Deanna Guzman. She knows whom she wants to be and she is in the process of becoming that person - using her unique talents.
She is a winning feminist.
-- L.A. Preschel
Sourced from an article "Girls tackle football and the rest is history," by Barry Carter for the Newark Star-Ledger 03 October 2017
Man, woman and child as long as they are not endangering themselves should be allowed to compete on the highest level to show their talent. Some would say even self-protection does not deter a true feminist like Joan of Arc.
How can someone show their greatness unless they are tested to the point of failure or ultimate success, vanquishing all their competition. Contesting against the best, brings out your best and shows who is the best. That is what the Olympics are about. That is what life should be about.
No artificial man-made limits to protect/advantage selected competitors to the detriment of others. Darwin did not propose a theory that in a natural state, only the strongest win, and the weaker shrink to the sidelines, becoming extinct.
Deanna Guzman already has won the state championship in the shot put, so she has proved she is a top-level athlete. Guzman who describes herself as a geeky book reader, is also a role model.
This fall as a high school senior she has tried out for and made her high school's football team. It is not the flag football team, but the "boy's" football team. She not only made it through the rigorous training camp, running laps like any player when she made a mistake, but she is a starting offensive tackle. On the record, multiple male teammates respect her as an athlete, not as a female athlete, but as a peer.
Kamil Vickers a 300 pound tackle on her team stated, "she is not afraid to get hit or to mix it up. ... She's like a ball of energy. That's the kind of thing teams need nowadays."
Deanna stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 205 pounds. She can bench press 150 pounds. She earned her starting position and she earns mention in this blog. She is a pioneering woman, breaking new ground for women. High school records show that Deanna is the first female to make a varsity "boy's" football team in New Jersey as an on the field player.
Her coach noted that because of Deanna, several other female students have told him they are thinking about trying out next year. Alexis Littlejohn (14 years-old) has told the coach she was inspired by Deanna, and she will definitely be at tryouts next year.
Deanna has become a leader/role model outside her school as well.
In Pop Warner Football in Newark, several girls are now playing on "boy's" teams. Many are starting and they are recognized by their teammates as playing at the high level needed to win games. Quite a few of them have heard of Deanna and look forward to walking in the path she is clearing.
In one obvious difficult parental situation, 12 year-old Madison Jacobs, played against her younger brother, Javon Swain (10) in a Pop Warner game, but then aren't brothers and sisters always fighting and tackling each other. I feel sorry for Mom, Avia Jacobs, who has to play referee on the ride home from the game. A tie satisfies no one, but sure would decrease the acrimony before eating dinner.
Back to Deanna, she has had to overcome more than just gender bias to be the athlete she is. On her 13th birthday, while walking to school, she was struck by a speeding car. She suffered multiple fractures, some of which required open reductions and internal fixations. She had a rod inserted in her femur (the bone between the knee and hip joints) and wires were used to hold the bones about her shoulder to the rest of her arm. After she healed sufficiently, she needed extensive physical therapy to relearn how to walk. She needed to strengthening and to regain motion to return her arm to full function. Imagine how hard she worked so that now she can play football or bench press 150 pounds.
She became the state champion in the shot put and a starting tackle on her football team.
If she never does anything else in her life (and I would not bet against that) she is already a very special person. She is a leader and a success story.
Deanna is a pretty stylish, athletic geek. She reads books on brain function and urban communities's socioeconomic conditions and how they affect young people. Like I said earlier, I won't bet against her changing the world in the future, nope, not me.
She has figured out a part of the puzzle who is Deanna Guzman. She knows whom she wants to be and she is in the process of becoming that person - using her unique talents.
She is a winning feminist.
-- L.A. Preschel
Sourced from an article "Girls tackle football and the rest is history," by Barry Carter for the Newark Star-Ledger 03 October 2017
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