Again, or should I say still, sexual harassment is all everyone is talking about. Al Franken has just been accused by a second woman, of grabbing her butt at the Minnesota State Fair in 2010 while being photographed.

I’m afraid this issue is becoming a witch hunt. I confess, I’ve grabbed the butt of a friend or two through the years, both male and female. It almost always resulted in a smile…never a lawsuit or a loss of my career and friends…not to mention public humiliation.

To get away from the issue, I turned to TMC which is showing the 1939 movie Nothing Sacred starring Carole Lombard and Frederick March. They are in a bedroom pushing each other around. Fred just threw Carole onto the bed 4 times. My, my. That scene would be viewed quite differently in today’s ultra-sensitive atmosphere.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m as disgusted by true sexual abuse as anybody.  I believe that the collateral damage to the victims of true abuse, is immeasurable. Even the one-time sexual assault leaves a burn mark on the victim’s soul. The degree of abuse and the duration, should be factors in investigating the experiences of new voices speaking up.

Harassment to me is something else. It’s the person that always comments on women’s bodies because it’s “what guys do” to get a laugh. It’s the guy that thinks flirting is always attractive and welcome. It’s the guy that thinks HE’s always attractive and welcome. It’s the person that thinks everybody thinks alike…just like him. My answers for him would be: it’s not, it’s not, you aren’t, and they don’t.

I do support people speaking up. Silence, I have found, is the most powerful weapon that that abuse, and corruption have. If nobody says anything, it simply doesn’t exist. So, the voices are welcome, probably cathartic for the victims and things obviously must change.

The abusers, assaulters and predators must be held accountable, and the harassers have been told “Stop it…or, we’re gonna tell!”

I consider this a huge step in the advancement in female equality. As with all the steps needed to obtain it, the shell (sometimes shotgun) around white male supremacy is breaking away.

The ultimate message that is reverberating is that people will not be bullied…which, after all, is what the bottom line is here. I believe that there should be continued efforts to address the elimination of bullying…of every kind.

As for Roy Moore, I am not judging him based on his being a dirty old man. I oppose him because he touts Christianity as his credentials, and spews verbiage that reflects anything but the Golden Rule…and, he’s a dirty old man.

I hope we don’t go “Beanie Baby crazy” with the bad behavior of people that dates back into the dark ages. We don’t want to hear all the experiences of playing doctor with the neighborhood kids. The stories, I’m afraid, would fill the news daily, for a very long time. But true bullies, that have hurt people, must be held accountable.

By the way, the Minnesota State Fair bills itself as “The Great Minnesota Get-Together”. I’m thinking Al took that a little too literally.