On What’s Happened to Imperfect Men
I wasn’t that long ago that politicians, caught with their pants down, would try to rescue their careers by holding a press conference, with dutiful wife by their side, and admit their transgressions. Then they would utter those supposedly magic words, that would bring forgiveness and absolve them of all their sins. “I am not a perfect man”, they would say. To add piety, he would then say “We are working on our marriage”. We haven’t heard the “imperfect man” defense for a while, and its time to check in on what the landscape is now.

Clearly, political leaders haven’t stopped “getting a little on the side”. However, since one politician, who shall not be named, embraced his view that a boss could grab and abuse any woman as his God-given right, the “imperfect man” has disappeared. The new approach is to deny and use character assassination to de-legitimize accusers.

The results are mixed. So far, Congressman Matt Goetz is still in office, but Mario Cuomo has departed. The #MeToo movement has quite a few scalps of wealthy and powerful men, who fell to various degrees of crimes against women.

There’s another twist in the sex scandal scene. Women who back their “bad boys”. The women who take on abuse issues, have tended to be professional who are within an arm’s reach of the wealthy and powerful. Apparently, some blue-collar women love their wayward men so much that they have created a counter-movement that stands by their guys. They generally feel the #metoo women just need to suck it up, expect to be mauled and groped and even occasionally raped. Particularly if the abuser/rapist suits their political aims. “Men will be men”, is their approach to accepting a disrespectful status in our society. Even though sexual harassment claims are prevalent in America’s workplaces, we don’t hear much from the woman on the shop floor whose boss makes it clear that they put up or be gone.

Into this brave new political world comes Sean Parnell. Sean is a decorated Army Ranger and has hopes of becoming a United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, for Mr. Parnell, he’s embroiled in a messy child custody case right smack dab in the middle of his primary campaign. The former Mrs. Parnell says he choked her, pinned her down, left her on the side of the road, told her to get an abortion and violently struck their children. Sean says he’s the victim of a vindictive ex-spouse. Mr. Parnell is endorsed by “he who shall not be named”. There’s no “imperfect man” speech in him. Unlike the former President, Parnell’s donor base has evaporated and Party leaders are reassessing his electability. They seem to feel today’s Pennsylvania voters won’t support a candidate with anger management and abuse issues. We’ll have to wait the clock out on this one.

The question is, has the tide turned? Are defiant denials and making life hell for accusers, losing their effectiveness? Will the #metoo movement be joined by working women who endure sexual harassment and abuse in the blue-collar world? What will the emerging standard of behavior and moral code look like? How far back in time, will the arm of accountability reach? Will the rules apply equally in the private world and the public arena? Will a new code of conduct apply to all public figures, or will there be exceptions based on popularity? Or will the counter-movement grow from the uncertainty of some situations or the white-collar nature of the movement’s current public face? It’s a changing panoramic in the long struggle for women’s equality and men’s efforts to use sex as a weapon of dominance. Guess what, this is one that we, the voting public, get to decide.

ihg 11-15-2021
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