Opinion Blog Post: WE MUST USE THIS MOMENT TO TEACH OUR CHILDREN AND OUR STUDENTS ABOUT SEXUAL MISCONDUCT.
Luz Claudio
Tenured Professor of Environmental Medicine and Public Health at Mount Sinai Health System
After the awful spectacles of the last weeks, how can we find a silver lining? Can any good come from this?
The one good thing that I can see coming out of this is that at least now we are talking.
It must not be lost in this moment the opportunity to talk about our experiences of sexual abuse or harassment. I myself, was never that brave. Too scared/ashamed/humiliated/embarrassed/angry/intimidated to speak up, even years later. There are so many reasons why a person may not speak up about their experience of sexual abuse: They may be blamed; No one will believe them; Nothing will happen anyway... And countless other reasons. Just look at the many cases of sexual abuse in the news now, from churches to TV shows, for every one of those victims there was a strong reason not to tell. (Anyone who doesn't think this is a problem in Academia must read the recent report by the National Academies of Science ).
Now here we are in 2018 and it is still as terrifying as it ever was to talk about an experience like that.
Everyone who has children, everyone who interacts with students, and everyone who moves in this world as a decent person must use this moment for good. We must teach our girls, and our boys, that they are safe to speak up against sexual abuse. Whether it happened yesterday, or 10, 20, or even 30 years ago. Whether they were a victim, a witness, or even a perpetrator. We must all speak up.
Because time doesn't heal all wounds.
Dr. Luz Claudio is an environmental research scientist. The opinions expressed in this blog are solely her own and may not reflect those of her employer or colleagues.