Many recent opinion pieces about sexual harassment and assault contain statements of gratitude to the men who respect women and treat them as equals. But we need to hold men to a higher standard than that.
We don’t thank people for not committing murder. You don’t get bonus points for not running red lights. We should thank men (and women) who actively work to level the playing field between men and women, who work to eliminate the power disparity between them so that the culture of harassment and assault changes.
Praising men for respecting women merely absolves them of responsibility for doing anything to end the inequality that some men will inevitably abuse. We need to praise men for more than basic human decency.
David Kuchta
Portland
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.