Louisville Medicine Volume 65, Issue 7 | Page 33

OPINION DOCTORS Lounge connects one survivor to another for help, it is a hashtag for the ages. Sharing trauma, they say, can remove some of the pain of it, little by little. Why do men do this? Psychologists who study those convicted of sex crimes say they like it. They feel like players, like big guys. It feeds their egos and soothes their inse- curities. It banishes feelings of impotence. They like a woman to feel subject to their power. They like the actual touching, the feeling of possession. They like to brag about it later, even if only to themselves. They like to rattle a woman, to intimidate her, to make her squirm, or even, just to pay them some attention. The hashtag #MeToo has been a uni- fying force. It has focused the anger and resentment of millions of women against its appropriate targets, the men who think women are there to be used. But I suggest a better hashtag: #UsToo. Why? Because we all knew about this. Men knew about their peers who recounted their exploits. Men knew what their daugh- ters or wives or sisters had described. Men knew, and know, that this goes on every day, all over the world, to women who want no part of it. This is not flirting, which is the fun of life. This is not wooing, this is not getting close to another, this is not making friends, this is not falling in love or even having a fling. This is sex that goes in only one direc- tion, not two. This is sexual exploitation of STAY Connected women by men, and we all know it. Women are speaking up with all the force we have. Men – it’s your turn. Add your dis- approval, your disgust, your loss of respect for men who do this and you know about it. Say it out loud. Don’t just stand there, do something. We can build a culture of mutual respect, but you know what they say: it takes two to protest. #UsToo: keep it going. Dr. Barry practices Internal Medicine with Norton Community Medical Associates-Bar- ret. She is a clinical associate professor at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, Department of Medicine. facebook.com/Greater-Louisville-Medical-Society with GLMS between publications www.glms.org @LouMedSociety Contact [email protected] for more information @LouMedSociety linkedin.com/groups/Greater-Louisville-Medical-Society DECEMBER 2017 31