Sexismus-Panik: Wie hilft man Frauen, die eine irre Angst vor Männern haben? – News vom 18. Oktober 2017

1. Die von der SPD-Politkerin Sawsan Chebli erhobenen Sexismus-Vorwürfe werden weiterhin diskutiert. So heißt es im Tagesspiegel:

Wenn ich es richtig verstehe, dann gründet sich der Sexismus-Vorwurf auf dem Vorwurf, hier werde eine tüchtige junge Frau im Bewusstsein geschlechtlicher Überlegenheit herabgewürdigt. Das ist offensichtlich Unsinn. Denn er hat ihre Kompetenz ja nicht in Zweifel gezogen, sondern einfach nur irrtümlich jemand anderen erwartet. Diese Art Delikt war früher als 'falsches Bewusstsein' bekannt. Derjenige, dem es zugeschrieben wird, kann sich nicht wehren, in seinem Kopf wütet nun mal Verbotenes, das ist Pech. Und ist es nicht gar Rassismus, wenn ein alter weißer Mann als Staatssekretärin keine gebürtige Araberin erwartet? Immer den größten Hammer schwingen, das ist das Prinzip.

Und bei den "Kolumnisten" argumentiert Jörg Friedrich:

Wenn ältere Männer heute jungen Frauen in aller Öffentlichkeit Komplimente machen, um über schwierige Momente der Kommunikation hinweg zu kommen, sollten wir sie nicht als Sexisten beschimpfen oder als Dinosaurier einer fremden fernen Zeit verurteilen, sondern als Botschafter einer vielleicht kommenden schöneren Welt ansehen, in der auch Frauen den Männern, denen sie begegnen, sagen, dass sie gut aussehen und attraktiv gekleidet sind, bevor man gemeinsam zur Tagesordnung übergeht.

2. Der britische Spectator zerpflückt die aktuelle feministische Twitter-Aktion "Me too", die einmal mehr versucht, einen einzelnen sexuell offenbar übergriffigen Mann (Harvey Weinstein) zur allgegenwärtigen Bedrohung von Frauen hochzuhypen:

Following a weekend crammed with ever more salacious revelations about Harvey Weinstein, hundreds of thousands of women have now taken to social media to share their own experiences of sexual harassment. This is called the ‘#MeToo’ movement, and it’s gone viral, in the way that these things do.

According to Twitter, this reveals ‘the magnitude of sexual assault’. In reality, it does nothing of the sort. #MeToo tells us far more about the desire of some women to reach for victimhood status.

(...) Worse, serious crimes are trivialised as the #MeToo tweeters who recount some relatively minor (albeit discomforting) experience are equally blessed with retweets, likes and public endorsements praising their bravery. Blurring the boundaries between rape and ever-broader definitions of sexual harassment doesn’t just trivialise serious offences, it further inflames a climate of hysteria in which the sexual harassment of women comes to be presented as a routine part of life. Life for women is presented as a battleground where we are all only one bad joke, one wolf whistle or one stare away from being assaulted.

It also creates an impression that being a woman in the 21st century is a living hell. Not only is this false, it is destructive. In 2015, Girl Guiding UK found that seventy-five per cent of girls and young women said anxiety about potentially experiencing sexual harassment affects their lives in some way. A 2016 survey suggested that 41 per cent of young women expect to face discrimination at work. These young women had not faced harassment or discrimination: their anxiety was around what might, potentially, happen to them in the future. It may be the fear of sexual harassment, more than the reality, that is holding women back today.

Twitter is by default a narcissistic platform: users must assume the world wants public updates on their thoughts and feelings. But yesterday’s #MeToo Twitter-trend only shows us the sorry state of feminism today.

3. In Frankfreich soll es jetzt mit einem sofortigen Bußgeld belegt werden, wenn ein Mann einer Frau hinterher pfeift oder sie auf andere Weise sexuell belästigt. Zumindest das mit dem Bußgeld steht fest – für welches "Delikt" genau es anfallen soll, wird noch heiß diskutiert.



4. Das "Aero Magazin" nutzt die aktuelle moralische Panik, um zu diskutieren, woher eigentlich diese vorurteilbehaftete, diskriminierende psychische Störung stammt, die die Verfasserin dieses Artikels als "Androphobie" bezeichnet:

From other sources, we learnt how rape culture made Harvey Weinstein, that Harvey Weinstein shows that rape culture is still prevalent in 2017 and what Rape Culture says about Masculinity. The problem with this is that Harvey Weinstein is neither a culture nor masculinity. He is one man who, it seems clear, was willing to use his position of power to exploit and abuse women. We can condemn the character of Weinstein. We can demand answers and the overhaul of an industry that allowed him to conceal his abuses from the public. But it must be remembered that Weinstein’s power did not reside in the American public believing that sexual abuse was acceptable. Weinstein’s position of power did not enable him to convince American society that sexual abuse was good. It enabled him to conceal his from it. Once he could do that no longer, the immediate outpouring of outrage, anger, and distress that followed cast great doubt on the claim that America is a rape culture. If we understand a rape culture to be one in which rape is glorified, condoned or excused, there is little evidence of such a culture in the responses to the revelation about Harvey Weinstein.

(...) It is unjust to the vast majority of men who commit no sexual offences and are appalled by their existence. It’s also harmful to women who are being encouraged to fear men as a sex and to regard the world as dangerous and hostile to them. It is most alarming that driving this fear is a form of feminism which ratchets up fear of men to the level of life-restricting phobia.

(...) "Androphobia" is not a word in popular usage but I think it should be. It’s a far better word than “misandry” to describe the expression of fear of and aversion to men that permeates much of feminist discourse right now. Misandry is the hatred of men. Feminists who exhibit hostility towards men tell us that they do not hate men. They simply fear them and argue that hostility is a perfectly natural consequence of this which should be accepted. I think we should take them seriously and treat the problem as "androphobia" — an irrational fear which sufferers should be supported sympathetically to overcome.

The NHS tells us that "a fear becomes a phobia when you have to change your lifestyle to manage it. A phobia is an extreme or irrational fear or dread aroused by a particular object or circumstance, to the point where it severely restricts your life." It goes on to say that whilst phobias of uncommon things such as snakes (in Britain) won’t usually affect everyday life, phobias of commonly encountered things can make it very hard to lead a normal life. Men are, of course, very commonly encountered things and therefore we should not underestimate the profound impact a fear of and aversion to them can have on the life and prospects of phobics. One counselling site says of Androphobia, "Though women who suffer from this disorder may realize that there is very little reason to be afraid of men, the fear persists, thus leading to severe, repeated anxiety around men that can often interfere with everyday activities." Causes of androphobia are suggested to include trauma and genetics but also cultural influences which include fear-mongering. A prominent form of feminism which perpetuates fear of and aversion to men could certainly be one such influence.

Hier geht es weiter mit dem Artikel von Helen Pluckrose.

"Ganz viele Frauen haben ja schon Angst, auf die Straße zu gehen" tönte Anne Wizorek zum Höhepunkt der #Aufschrei-Debatte über sexuelle Belästigung. Wenn das zutrifft, benötigen diese Frauen Hilfe, aber ganz sicher nicht, indem ihre psychische Beeinträchtigung durch das weitere Schüren von Ängsten verstärkt und verfestigt wird – beispielsweise indem man Komplimente zu traumatisierenden Übergriffen erklärt. Helen Pluckrose erläutert, wie diese Hilfe stattdessen aussehen kann:

Cognitive behavioral therapy for the treatment of irrational fears focuses upon realistic assessments of risk, determining reasonable precautions against it and then, having put one’s fear into perspective, living a full life. It is possible that any man a woman encounters in her daily life could violently attack and rape her but almost every such encounter results in no such thing. Dr Bruce Hubbard describes it like this, "CBT helps replace catastrophic cognitions with reasonable beliefs. When fear begins, it’s important to remind yourself to review the evidence that this is a false alarm, you are not in danger. The goal is to develop a nurturing, coaching inner voice to help stay grounded and effectively accept and cope with panicky feelings as they run their course." The already tiny risk of violent attack can be reduced further by taking the same kind of precautions one takes against other kinds of crime and using the same kind of judgement one uses with other kinds of relationships. If we live life in constant fear and distrust of men, we could possibly reduce the risk further but at what cost? Avoiding interactions and relationships with half the population reduces the likelihood of having friends, lovers and meaningful bonds too.

(...) I am concerned by the neurotic attempts to catastrophize non-injurious sexual assault experienced by women beyond any other form of criminal behavior of which we (and men) could become a victim. I don’t want my daughter to be told that being shown a penis, being subjected to sexual comments or experiencing a hand placed somewhere it has no right to be is a terrible trauma from which she may never recover. Even less do I want her to think this represents a society which is hostile and dangerous to her and which she should only approach with caution. I want her to know that these behaviors are unacceptable. Some of them are crimes she should report. Others indicate individuals she should avoid. They are not to be dismissed or excused. They are not the end of the world.

(...) You are likely to be criticized or laughed at in public at some point in your life and experience shame or embarrassment. If your fear of being criticized or laughed at causes you to avoid being around people in work or social environments, your sociophobia needs treating.

You are likely to encounter a boorish or abusive man who will make sexual comments, attempt to grope you or show his genitalia at some point in your life. If your fear of such men causes you to avoid being around the entire male half of the population, trusting men, working with men, having relationships with them and speaking of them without hostility and negative generalisations, your androphobia needs treating.

Vielleicht ist das ein zentraler Unterschied im Frauenbild von Feministinnen und Maskulisten. Die wortführenden Feministinnen scheinen eher zu denken: Frauen sind tendenziell schwach und müssen gesetzlich vor so fiesen Dingen wie Komplimenten und Hinterher-Pfeifen geschützt werden. Maskulisten denken eher: Frauen sind tendenziell stark und können sich die nötigen Kompetenzen aneignen, um mit den Belastungen des Alltags eigenständig umzugehen.



5. Die Post. Einer meiner Leser informiert mich über einen Fall, bei dem die sexistische Justiz in unserer Gesellschaft besonders sichtbar wird:

Daniella Hirst 28 und Craig Smith 31, beide aus dem englischen Bridlington zogen in einer öffentlichen Pizzeria vor den Angestellten eine Sex-Nummer ab. Dabei wurden sie von einer Überwachungskamera gefilmt. Dieses Video gelangte wohl in das Internet und hatte zur Folge, dass sich beide wegen Sex in der Öffentlichkeit jetzt vor Gericht verantworten mussten.

Hier die Urteile:

Frau Hirst:

12-monatige Gemeindebefreiung.

23 Wochen lang eine Ausgangssperre, täglich zwischen 19 und 7 Uhr.

10 Tage Rehabilitation abschließen und einen Opferzuschlag von 85 Pfund zu bezahlen.

Herr Smith:

12-monatige Gemeindebefreiung.

23 Wochen lang eine Ausgangssperre, täglich zwischen 19 und 7 Uhr.

15 Tage Rehabilitation abschließen und einen Opferzuschlag von 85 Pfund zu bezahlen.

Also 5 Tage Rehabilitation mehr als wie Frau Hirst.

Zusätzlich wurde er verurteilt, sozusagen als Männer-Bonus:

Zum Ableisten von 200 Stunden unbezahlter Arbeit.

Herr Smith rief vor Gericht: "Warum muss ich das extra machen ?!"

Eine Antwort blieb wohl aus.

Hier haben wir so einen Fall, wo eine Frau zusammen mit einem Mann zu je 50% an ein und dem selben Vergehen beteiligt waren, sie hatten zusammen Sex in der Öffentlichkeit.

Warum brummt man dem Mann eine Extra-Strafe auf?