Me Too

A status on Facebook and Twitter today involves(and one I can get behind a helluva lot more than women willfully silencing themselves)involves women — and quite a number of men posting the words “Me Too” and then sharing stories of sexual harassment and far too often, rape and molestation. While a couple of disaffected “above it all” types have questioned the point of doing this – “what does it accomplish?” (Gotta piss on whatever those survivors try before it has a chance to possibly accomplish anything, amirite? That status quo ain’t gonna maintain itself!) But what’s really moved me is seeing guys I know, the types of guys who are decent fellows but don’t really spend their time worrying about this stuff because…well, they never really felt like they had to. Suddenly these guys are reflecting on the way we as a whole, societally, have normalized certain types of interactions between men and women, and maybe taught them something was fun and games that someone else viewed as unwanted, or threatening maybe. (I’m not talking full on rape here, more harassing or lewd behaviors). For most of us, Hollywood is far away. We can read about the actions of a Harvey Weinstein and find them reprehensible, but we don’t travel in those circles. But reading about them happening to people we know and interact with on a regular basis? Maybe that’s what it was supposed to accomplish.

Anyway, people who’ve known me for a minute know I’m no stranger to dealing with this topic, and my traumas with it, in my work. So in honor of “Me Too”, I’m reposting a public performance of “Psychic Harm Reduction” which ran in World War 3 Illustrated #43. The performance took place in Le Petit Versailles Garden, with Eric Blitz and Andy Laties accompanying musically, thanks to Mike Diana for filming.