The age of #MeToo hasn’t ended quite yet but it’s taken on a different look from when it first started. The reason the movie Disclosure is so important is that it does what a lot of people get socially crucified for, it tells another side of the story that rarely, if ever, comes out. Ever notice how many men were taken down several notches as of October of 2017? A lot of them were considered guilty and even admitted to what they’d done in the past and managed to offer an apology and slowly fade into the background as the allegations dragged their careers into the mud where people began to trounce on them without mercy. Yet for all that there’s hardly any talk of the other side of the story, when women get away with just about anything largely because they’re believed to be the victims and never the aggressors. There is a reason for this of course, men don’t want to admit that they’re weak in any way and have to file a sexual harassment charge against a woman. It tends to make men look as though they can’t handle their business and they’re in some way less of a man.
The stubborn pride that causes this is a boon and a bane all at once since it does allow women to get away with such acts, though they seem quite rare in comparison to how many sexual harassment and misconduct charges have been filed against men. The point however is that one sex should not be given precedence over another when it comes to evidence and the findings that there was in fact a very real case of harassment. In the movie Disclosure there is a moment when Michael Douglas’s character is harassed by Demi Moore and is even threatened when he decides to walk away without engaging in sexual relations with Moore, who plays his new boss. Unfortunately it seems that a woman scorned is not a great enemy to have since she actively begins to ruin his career and sends him rocketing towards termination. In the real world it would be easy for any man to snap and simply take it out on a woman that did this to him, as it has happened in the past but without the frequency that it seems to happen to women.
However, when she turns and file a sexual harassment suit on him before he can slap one on her the mess only gets worse as he’s offered the chance to pick up and leave and lose out on a big part of his job’s incentives. At this point Douglas’ character could have easily lost his cool and made matters worse by acting openly against Moore and thereby playing her game. But he was smarter about it and began to compile evidence and proof that she had undermined the very job that she was attempting to lord over him, thereby making her look the fool and retaining his job and even regaining his reputation. In many ways it was a fitting amount of payback that didn’t involve any physicality or even emotional harm that might have been construed as harassment or even violent reprisal. He did the right thing and dug up enough dirt on her so that the truth would come out and she would be discredited as he needed her to be.
The MeToo movement has been described as a witch hunt but also a quest for justice for those that were wronged years ago and were afraid to speak up. It’s been praised and vilified more than once and has been seen in the right hands to do some good. In the wrong hands though, meaning those that are vengeful and entirely spiteful towards others, it has become a vehicle of ruination for those that have done nothing but have still been seen as prime targets because of the things they’ve said. No one deserves to be sexually harassed in the workplace no matter what, but the act needs to be revealed for what it is at that time or soon after and not left to fester for years. Too many individuals have been raked over the coals at this point and some of them haven’t deserved it as they’ve been caught up by the movement on suspicion alone despite having done nothing. It’s rare of course that those who have been singled out are truly innocent, but the movement has severely damaged the credibility of many and has even made many men fearful of saying anything at this point since it might be construed as harassment of some type.
Disclosure showed that women can be every bit as aggressive and vindictive as men, but it also showed that getting even and gaining justice is not about who can be more violent and who can ruin who. It’s about being able to stand up for yourself and find a way to expose those that are truly guilty.
