#takebackourpower

[rustyblackwood]

Take Back Our Power https://www.bitchute.com/video/GsF1j7vJh9Z9/?fbclid=IwAR2dyhKCUeRGtPP_o1OGEQPok6qOj-dbotN_HQ-2OrP66IAx4zKLO1MC4WM

[poeticstimulator]

Fight The Power!!! End White Supremacy!!! #PoeticS #FightThePower #EndWhiteSupremacy #TakeBackOurPower https://www.instagram.com/p/CBgMpUWARtp/?igshid=o2hkpzcizhbm

[jassonpointe]

This country. This country was never the white man’s to begin with. POC must begin to stand in solidarity.

[sydni-jaemes]

No other words required. @realdlhughley #blackwoman #blackgirlmagic #brokenchains #takebackourpower #iamwoman #survivors #motherearth #originalhuman #socialhood #dlhughley #mayaangelou #michelleobama #oprahwinfrey #kamalaharris #sojourneytruth #madamecjwalker #violadavis #truth (at Richmond, Virginia) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs5j005HNtm/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=u71hh7nk8qc7

[blogafricanincanada]

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you will have heard that more than 50 women have accused 65-year-old American film producer, Harvey Weinstein, of sexual assault. Apparently his predatory ways were a badly kept secret among the Hollywood elite for many years. He is said to have invited countless young actresses and industry insiders to private meetings at hotels where he would pressure them into sexually related acts under the threat of being fired from his projects. His abuse of power is astonishing, but what I keep mulling over is the fact that many of his victims never said a word to anyone until now. This does not come from a place of judgement because I know how difficult it is to discuss. I have been sexually assaulted three times, one of those by my own version of Harvey Weinstein.

It was the early 90′s - I was 18 and still living in South Africa. I was going through a bit of a ‘finding myself’ phase. I had dropped out of college, moved in with a roommate and signed on with a temp agency to pay the bills while I figured out what to do with my life. I thought I’d landed a lucrative temp gig when I ended up working as a receptionist at a diamond company that kept renewing my contract week after week. The company’s CEO was a wealthy 40-something male who we shall call John. John was tall, dark-haired and had an ego to match his height. I took an instant dislike to him. He was macho and arrogant and I felt myself a little on edge whenever he was in the office. The other employees never said anything to me, but they seemed wary of him so I instinctively knew to be on guard around him.

I’ll admit that my work attire wasn’t office-appropriate. My skirts were a tad shorter than they should have been, but I was young and broke and didn’t have a lot of money to buy new work clothes. After a few weeks at the company John seemed to take more interest in me. He would linger at my desk and call me into his office to ask me seemingly innocuous questions. Then one day he called me in to his office and he said he needed my help. He had stacked a series of new paintings on the floor, propped up against a wall in his office. He closed the door to his office and asked me repeatedly to bend down, pick up the artwork and place it on the wall where he thought it might go, while he stood back and gave feedback. It sounds innocent enough but he stared at my butt and legs the entire time. It was the first time he made me feel truly uncomfortable.

That night I discussed it with my roommate. I wanted her opinion on whether I was overreacting about his behaviour. After much debate we agreed that he was a creep, but that I’d keep my job at the diamond company since the money was pretty decent and I needed to pay my share of the rent.

A week later he called me in again, closed the door and told me he wanted me to type something for him. He was sitting at his L-shaped desk with his computer on his left side which meant I couldn’t reach the computer to type without leaning over him. He didn’t move. I looked at him uncertainly and he said “You can just lean over me and type.” And I did it. I leaned over that awful man and typed his document because I needed that job and in that moment I didn’t feel like I could refuse. His face was inches from mine as I typed. I remember feeling humiliated and angry and as I started to walk away his hand brushed my thigh. I knew without a doubt that if I stayed at that company he would become bolder in his advances. I had to leave.

I went home that night and called the temp agency and told them I would not be going back to the diamond company and stated exactly what had happened. The woman I spoke to wasn’t overly-sympathetic, but said she would call them about the money I was owed and also to get his version of events. A week went by without a word from the agency. I finally called them back and was told that they’d spoken to John. He was refusing to pay me for my last week because I was “unprofessional” and “lazy” and a “liar”. He denied my account of what happened and said he had never laid a finger on me. Also he said I dressed “very inappropriately” for an office environment.

I was shocked and angry and ashamed. I felt like it was all my fault. My short skirts had been an open invitation to him. Still, I asked the woman, “If I was so awful, why did they keep hiring me back every week?” She had no answer to that. That was the last job I got out of that temp agency. I had been blacklisted. Week after week I called looking for work and was told they had nothing suitable for me. John had won – they had taken the side of the successful, wealthy CEO over the 18-year-old temp receptionist with questionable dress sense.  And that, right there, is why it’s so not easy for women to come forward after uninvited sexual advances from men in positions of power.

After the Weinstein scandal broke, actress Alyssa Milano urged women to add their voices to the conversation and to add the phrase #metoo to their social media feeds if they had ever been victims of sexual assault. Millions and millions of women came forward and said “#metoo” – some also shared their stories. It has been an eye-opening few weeks for many of us. Sexual harassment of women is clearly more widespread than we had ever imagined. With so many women (and men) reporting sexual abuse isn’t it time we start doing something about it?

As a parent I know what I can do for my children. I can not only talk to my daughter about the dangers that might lie ahead for her, but I can also talk to my sons about being respectful and about not being sexist, misogynistic, power-hungry jerks. The more we talk about the systemic problems around sexual assault, the more we can educate the next generation and end the cycle of abuse. I plan to be honest with my children about my own experiences and I hope that if one good thing comes from the Weinstein scandal it’s that women can feel free to come forward and share their experiences without feeling humiliation, anger and shame. Unfortunately so many of us have come across our own version of Harvey Weinstein. It’s time to take back our power.

[askresultsjohnson-blog]

#Repost @_missing24 with @repostapp ・・・ And this is why we must... #Missing24 #shutitdown #stayhome #noschool #nowork #noshopping #takebackourpower #melanoidunity