Man up and treat women as equals

The Golden Globes Awards are normally an air-kissing, back-slapping fest of smug Hollywood congratulations. But this year, the warm-up event for the Oscars was altogether more serious.

Star of the show Oprah Winfrey, who won a lifetime achievement award, said: “For too long women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men.”

The men she was referring to are the powerful entertainment industry mavens who have used their power and positions to sexually harass – and even worse – a multitude of women.

Oprah’s telling point, though, was that this evil coercion knows no boundaries – no race, no culture, no social stratum is immune to the thuggery of men.

We witness too much of this, hear too many whispers, see too many media reports of it to dismiss the phenomenon as the mere carping of bitter feminists.

This is one of the biggest problems facing society: that, all other forms of discrimination aside, the oppression of women is one which truly prevents humanity from achieving its highest aims.

Ultimately, sexual harassment is because, simply, men do not accept women as equals.

We no longer live in caves. We should stop acting like cavemen.

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