Dear Joshua and Jonah,
This week over and over again on social media, women are posting “me too” as their status update. Two powerful words.
And I want to tell you why.
Jonah, you’re too young for the ins and outs of this, but when you’re old enough, we WILL talk about it.
But Joshua, you’re almost 14.
14 is the age of the boy who, when I was a freshman in high school, sat in front of me in chemistry class and repeatedly touched my legs. Most days I wore pants, but he especially loved Thursdays when we had chapel in our Christian school and I’d wear skirts. Those days he could maybe get more than his usual handful of ankle before I was able to scoot far enough away from him. He still tried just about every day. I was on my guard, but at some point I’d get busy with my, you know, actual class work and he’d strike again.
Touching me when I had said “no.” When I had asked him to stop. Repeatedly. He thought it was great fun, playing with me, but I am here to tell you son, whether you are 14 or 44, girls and women are NOT toys for you to play with.
Last week it came out that a very powerful man in Hollywood used that power over and over again to sexually harass and assault young actresses and movie industry professionals. Because, well, he could. And apparently he thought he deserved to have sex with anyone whose career he was contributing to in any way.
