Not All Men Are Pigs.
But the ones who are, are swine. And let’s stop pretending that we didn’t know.
BY LYNN SHERR | NOVEMBER 29, 2017
One splendid July day five years ago, during the last presidential campaign when the bar of civility rested comfortably above the waist, I traveled to New Hampshire to interview Republican candidate Mitt Romney for a magazine piece. Before my sit-down with the governor and his wife, there was a photo shoot, and at the request of the photographer I stood back quietly, out of the way. It wasn’t my turn, and I was happy to watch as he engaged the couple, snapping away before their lakeside home for the perfect cover image. He’d shot the Romneys before, and kept up a pleasant patter to keep them relaxed and lens-ready. At one point, with Romney about to attend the Summer Olympics in London, the cameraman zoomed in and asked playfully, “If you’d been an Olympic athlete, what sport might you have played?”
The truth? For most of these men, the response from those who knew them best was, more commonly, ‘Well, it’s about time.’ Not to mention the ones we’re waiting to hear about.
Romney’s eyes twinkled as if he’d been waiting for the question. “Women’s beach volleyball,” he shot back, with a satisfied, boys-will-be-boys grin. The entourage chuckled. The candidate beamed. And his press person, clearly unaware that a founding feminist lurked in the wings, nudged me and whispered, smirking, “He likes the uniforms.”
I rolled my eyes. I was ever-so-slightly offended. But I neither complained nor used it in the piece. Mormon humor, I figured. And nowhere near as tacky as strapping your dog to the top of your car for a cross-country trip. Boys, even 65-year-old would-be presidents, will be boys.
I recall this previously unreported moment in American politico-sexual history out of nostalgia for the sort of mindless insults that every woman in the world has endured for centuries. Yes, they make you uncomfortable, because a man with whom you think you have a business relationship is fixating instead on naked or near-naked female bodies. But unless the striptease moves from fantasy to fact, the moment passes. We are used to it. We sigh. We move on and our clothing stays put.
Mitt Romney, at least that day in New Hampshire, was not guilty of sexual abuse. Just sexual boorishness. There’s a difference.
Not all men are pigs.
Certainly not Winston Churchill, who, in the stirring new movie The Darkest Hour, about his daunting role shaping the allied victory over Nazi Germany, terrifies his new secretary with his gruffness, his demands and his dictation of letters from the bedroom while wearing only his bedclothes. In bed.
As the film presents it, Churchill’s lifetime love affair with his beloved wife, Clemmie, precluded any Charlie Rose moments with unsuspecting underlings. More important, the life-and-death demands of wartime London removed the stigma from any such impropriety. His state of undress reflected the urgency of the moment, not the passions of an unleashed id. Or maybe just a weird guy. But not a sex fiend.
Not all men are pigs. No matter their politics.
Read the entire article at:
http://billmoyers.com/story/not-all-men-are-pigs-but-the-ones-who-are-are-swine/
= new reply since forum marked as read
my husband, my son and my sons in law are joys in my life. My male friends are wonderful, too. I guess I am just lucky...
because I, too, have great men in my life but I HAVE experienced my share of Pigs. I can't imagine how you managed to avoid them, but lucky you! 
about your earlier bad experience. 
Last edited Wed Nov 29, 2017, 10:12 PM - Edit history (1)
The way we show our children the respect we hold for each member of our family...this starts with family values .
