Kipling told us that “the female of the species is more
deadly than the male” and recent events at Westminster may have added
credibility to that saying. We are told of a young woman’s knee being “almost”
fondled in 2015, triggering off a cascade of demands that the alleged
perpetrator be ejected from public life. Ministers and back-benchers are being accused
and condemned before the evidence has been forensically presented and the
public is left to assume the official world is heavily populated by predatory
males of the Casanova variety. The media of course are having a field-day.
I hesitate to draw general conclusions from this fracas and
from the concurrent revelations about show-biz misbehaviour. Parliament is its
own closed world, rightly given many privileges, but it is wildly untypical of
normal domestic life. Members of Parliament are often from the ranks of the
abrasive, the unscrupulous and the self-regarding so that type is
over-represented. Bored to tears by the committee stage of some obscure
legislation, depressed by the neo-Gothic, quasi-ecclesiastical gloom of their
surroundings, they stumble into the oasis of the Members Bar. If they can elbow
past the SNP members, apparently almost permanent fixtures at this watering-hole,
they can booze away cheaply and after, say, their sixth shot, inevitably their
true character comes to the fore and the ladies should run for cover. Pumped up
by the booze and by their ineffable self-importance, they easily believe they
have a divine right to exercise droit du
seigneur upon young (and even the not-so-young) women in Westminster.
Show business is another closed world whose antics are
Byzantine. Actors, male and female, are for ever seeking better parts (or even
a first role) and will literally do anything to secure their goals. Those with
the power to dispense patronage are an irresistible magnet to the profession.
“The casting couch” is rightly a by-word and a few squalid moments may be all
that is necessary to get that part. Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey probably
did behave disgracefully and crudely - they may be candidates for police
investigation. Nobody is deeply shocked by this kind of behaviour by “artistes”
– nothing better is expected, however much indignation is generated.
Politicians and actors are not regarded as role models but
the life-style of the leading lights in their profession is often enviable. It
probably does not help this delicate situation that the leading light in global
politics is none other than Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the
USA. He cannot be looked upon as a role model as his groping predilections are
well documented and his locker-room opinions on women have embarrassed him and
his family. An oaf, a blowhard and an ignoramus, Trump is not qualified to
inject an element of decency into the debate, which his predecessor Barack
Obama actually could.
 |
| Flirting is innocent |
The great majority of citizens behave in a relatively civilised way. In the workplace sexual advances are restricted by the hierarchy required in any business. Predatory bosses are rare and, if power-mania afflicts them, these days there will normally be some kind of complaints procedure to deter them. Out-of-hours dalliances are no doubt widespread, but there we are talking about the actions of “consenting adults in private” which is not the law’s business. Date-rape, indecency and violence are clearly against the law and the police and courts can dispense justice to victims.
More difficult to avoid is the cloud of innuendo and
pre-judgement surrounding these matters. The “perpetrators” may be unpleasant
people without many supporters and the “victims” may be fantasists with an axe
to grind. Hard evidence of the truth can be elusive, and accusations must be
tested.
How sad it would be if a young man pursuing a “cracker”
finds that she is an explosive firework in disguise, responding to his
conventional wooing with wild assertions, complaints and law-suits. Boy- meets-
girl is a human rite of passage – it does not need parliamentary approval,
whatever noisy Amber Rudd may want. Self-righteous lectures from Ruth Davidson,
Yvette Cooper, Caroline Lucas and Nicola Sturgeon are not welcome and merely
encourage a busy-body political culture. Of course the physical and psychological
integrity of all women and all men should be defended – that is a given – but
witch-hunts, hysteria and lynch-mobs can have no place in a civilised society. Let’s
calm down!
SMD
8.11.17
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment