Pandora’s box

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URBAN Dictionary describes Pandora’s box as “getting into a situation over which one has very little control over.”

That seems to be the case with the accusations against Harvey Weinstein which have evoked recollections from women on their sexual-harassment experiences although the news of course tends to focus on powerful and rich men.

When a woman believes that the brightness of her future depends on these men, she will be convinced of no other choice but to give in and suffer through their abuses.

But even a man with no power and no money can also shove his, uh, lack of power and money down any woman’s throat. Yes, he is feelingera.

All these men inspire only one feeling: Ewww. They make your skin crawl. Even the clowns in “It” are way much better than these obnoxious men who are convinced that they are God’s gift to women.

And then, there are men who kiss and tell about their supposed conquests which are only in their wet dreams but never happened in real life, they boast about the women they’ve tried, tasted, and dumped, like as if they were dropped into a war zone and came back alive. They’re the kind with teeny weeny and soft instruments who have to make up for that lack by pretending to be as gifted as a horse.

But only Vice Ganda can be the self-proclaimed horse in this side of the world and that has nothing to do whatsoever with his instrument.

It doesn’t help when some women have to insert lies in between their Oohs and Aahs especially when the non-horse man is taking too long in the bedroom department. Lies on his horselike powers. Call that the litany of antonyms—hard a.k.a. soft. Lies to speed up the process. If only the men could see the women rolling their eyes. Ho-hum.

The Pandora’s box that Weinstein’s case has opened is now called “The Weinstein Effect.” It all began with The New York Times’ piece on Weinstein which was published last Oct. 5. Since then, other sexual-harassment allegations have been revealed and/or recalled against Harvey’s brother Bob Weinstein, former US President George H.W. Bush, Ben Affleck, Steven Seagal, Oliver Stone, Bill O’Reilly, writer and director James Toback, R&B artist R. Kelly, the late Holocaust survivor, writer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, and others whose names may not be familiar to Pinoys: Andy Signore, David Carrera, Roy Price, Sam Kriss, Dr. Larry Nassar, Scott Courtney, Lockhart Steele, Chris Savino, Tyler Grasham, Robert Scobble, John Besh, Terry Richardson, Leon Wieseltier, Ethan Kath, and so on and so forth, ad infinitum, ad nauseam. That’s for October 2017 only. We’re guessing there will be more revelations this month, next month, next year…

By the way, that’s Bush senior, not junior.

Bill Cosby, on the other hand, has been facing sexual-assault accusations, which can now evoke queries on the difference between that and sexual harassment. Here’s a simple thought: Harassment is the prelude to assault. But there’s nothing simple in these two cases. They’re both as complicated as spring cleaning—at what point should you throw garbage away? Especially when that garbage is threatening the vulnerable woman a dark future if she doesn’t surrender to his belief as God’s gift to women.

Men known only in their own world can also be sexual harassers and assaulters but their unknown status saves them from the media’s unwanted attention.

Sexual harassment may start in the most subtle of ways. It can even be friendly at first, with the victim soon realizing there’s more to it than his mere pa-cute and pa-sweet gestures.

Harvey Weinstein’s story will be banished to Siberia once another breaking news crops up to replace it but it should continue to remind women that they always have the right to say no.

“The Weinstein Effect” hopefully has scared off these unwanted men from shoving their unwanted gifts down women’s throats, but if the extremists’ defeat in the Marawi siege has not stopped the recruitment side of extremism, and former friends can morph into strangers, the heart, mind and soul will continue to be used, misused, and abused. Only in an ideal and perfect world can peace and love reign in the hearts of its people. No wonder Elon Musk is bent on finding life on Mars.