Day of reckoning for men in power

In+todays+political+climate%2C+many+men+in+power+have+been+in+questions+and+had+to+go+through+trials%2C+including+lawyer+Michael+Cohen.+Guest+contributor+Trisha+Dasgupta+shares+her+thoughts+on+the+situation.

IowaPolitics.com

In today’s political climate, many men in power have been in questions and had to go through trials, including lawyer Michael Cohen. Guest contributor Trisha Dasgupta shares her thoughts on the situation.

Trisha Dasgupta, Guest Contributor

In the past few months various men in power have been subjected to trial after trial after trial in the shapes of testimonies, subpoenas, and prime-time interviews. Lawyers, judges, rappers, and actors.

Between Brett Kavanaugh’s trial, Michael Cohen’s testimony, and R. Kelly’s interview with Gayle King, there are now hours of footage of privileged men losing their cool in mere minutes. Some of the same men who say that women are too emotional, or too dramatic, are now having public meltdowns on Capitol Hill.

The scenes of these strong, powerful men have been incredibly eye-opening compared to the stark juxtaposition between the emotional reactions of men and women in these cases.

Let’s first look at R. Kelly. A well-known rapper arrested and tried for rape on multiple accounts, had a full breakdown on CBS news while defending himself. Kelly was yelling, waving his hands violently, and overall just embarrassing himself. The entire time, whilst being yelled and screamed at Gayle King sat still and quiet, and let Kelly continue. Not once did she wince or back down. She asked her questions and let him answer. Calm as ever.

Which seems to be a common motif amongst the women that have been involved in cases such as Kelly’s. Just compare the testimonies of Dr. Blasey Ford, and Justice Kavanaugh. Dr. Ford recounted her account of sexual assault in front of the entire country, and only managed to let a few tears slip. She stood stall, her voice barely cracking, in order to do what she thought would help our country.

Kavanaugh on the other hand, slammed his fists, yelled, and cried, showing the world what type of lawyer and judge he really was. Cool and rational right?

Most recently we saw Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez question Michael Cohen in the most calmest of manners, a huge accomplishment following hours of previous senators merely using their time to slam Cohen over and over again. In merely a matter of  minutes, we saw AOC get more information than all of the other senators combined.

And we’re seeing this over, and over again. Men are finally being held accountable for their misogynistic actions, and are now lashing out because this has never happened before, at least not to this scale. R. Kelly continued to make music after first being arrested for sexual assault nearly thirty years ago. It took thirty years and internet campaign to finally get people to stop buying his music and to put him in jail. But we still aren’t there yet. R. Kelly is still out on bail and Brett Kavanaugh still became a Supreme Court Justice.

We are making progress, and holding men accountable is definitely the first step. But we need to acknowledge the smaller nuances of misogyny as well, such as the fleshed out stereotype of over emotional women.