US sexual assault on women lesson to all

"Everywhere. Pervasive. Rampant. An epidemic"!
THAT'S how direct and deliberate is the description in a recent book, Be Fierce: Stop Harassment and Take Your Power Back, about sexual assault on women by men in high places in the United States.
The book, authored by Gretchen Carlson, former Ms America, well-known news anchor and a victim of unbridled sexual harassment by the ex-boss of Fox News, one of the world's biggest cable and satellite television news channels, is a chilling and disturbing revelation of how, in several instances, women have been and continue to be mistreated in the US.
Subsequent to Carlson's bare-it-all details of how demeaning and degrading, to any woman diligently building a successful career, was the sexual assault on her by her boss, dozens of other women also stepped forward to accuse that same powerful "abuser of women" who was forced to resign under pressure.
Carlson was one of the very few, among scores – possibly hundreds and thousands – of women regularly subjected to such sexual harassment by influential men in the US, who sued her boss and company. And, after a prolonged, highly publicised, unimaginably stress-enduring, decency-shattering trial, Carlson and 21st Century Fox Corporation (Fox News' parent) settled the lawsuit for US$20 million (RM84.44 million).
That litigation and how it was settled is by no means the purpose of my letter.
Sadly, and disgracefully, sexual harassment, exploitation and assaults on women by men in positions of authority in the US, which can be traced to that nation's history and highest office (I say that advisedly, if any one would care to check the facts) is very much alive.
Again, that is not to cast aspersion on the US as a nation and its people. But, it is a remorseful reflection on the serious deficit among people everywhere to honestly and sincerely value and uphold basic human rights and gender equality – not merely pay lip-service and hypocritically seek to foist those values on others when our own "house" is glaringly not in order.
The situation in the US is called an "epidemic" by Carlson because, even after the decades-old Title IX law amendment in the US seeking to protect women in educational institutions from sexual harassment, the cases of Anita Hill, Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, and the recently revealed instances of sports officials abusing female athletes in their charge – the tip of the iceberg, probably – is evidence that sexual assault on women continues unabated – perhaps with even more frequency and unreservedly – in this day and age.
And, my overriding point in bringing this issue to public attention is that despite our alleged decent, and even religious, utterances on being considerate and treating girls and women with equality, understanding, respect and honour, this debasing attack on women is going on in practically every society and country, to a greater or lesser extent, and in almost all walks of life.
What's even worse, is that in almost all environments, institutions and workplaces – irrespective of any laws, policies or procedures – we tend to studiously sweep this gross injustice and violation of human rights under the carpet, are patronising and reluctant, even refuse, to address the issue of sexual harassment through public discourse or in the media.
And, the reason for that and why this problem has continued undiminished is: secrecy. For whatever reason, it seems politically and culturally taboo and inappropriate to talk about it and so we work so hard to hide, cover it up and pretend everything is all right.
Girls and women, subjected to such exploitation by men in positions of authority have largely tended to suffer in silence, afraid they will be denied and deprived of opportunity to progress and succeed.
More so, they are ashamed, even scared, to share with adults in their families or colleagues such incidents of abuse.
Even less so do most victims dare to take legal action against their sexual predators and perpetrators of this crime against humanity. The experience by and large, if at all brought to justice, is the victims are accused of engaging in consensual conduct, there is insufficient actionable evidence, litigation is time-consuming and costly, the incident and publicity are a disgrace to the individual and her family, she misses out on life and work successes and, almost always, the victim loses her right, or is too embarrassed, to continue in the institution or workplace where the abuse occurred.
There is an urgent need to boldly address this pervasive malaise. The conspiracy of silence must be broken and the issue discussed more openly.
Policies, procedures and preventive laws and practices must be put in place where these don't exist and where they do, strict enforcement needs to be implemented. Sector and nationwide data and statistics, regularly and unbiasedly generated and publicly disseminated on this issue is of utmost necessity.
Most of all, women and men who experience or notice such violation of human dignity must be encouraged, without fear of reprisals and in confidence if need be, to immediately report these incidents, which in turn should be promptly and effectively investigated and appropriate action taken. And, there has to be exemplary penalty, without fear or favour, meted out to anyone found guilty of sexual misconduct.
Rueben Dudley
Petaling Jaya