"With great power comes great responsibility"
I've felt this way ever since the Me Too movement took hold. Women should never be abused, taken advantage of or treated as Less Than by anyone, and they should have every right to speak up and unite against any form of sexism, and be compensated as much as is possible and deserved for any proven misconduct against them.
However, taking allegations as fact simply because they're written or said is very dangerous. A woman can blackmail a man, or ruin his personal and/or professional life simply by saying something that's untrue or heavily skewed. We should be just as careful about what we believe and just as discerning about how much of what's said is true, to ensure things don't turn too far in the opposite direction.
My neighbor and friend has a cousin who was an executive at a large multinational company several years ago who had an allegation of sexual misconduct made against him by a woman who reported to him, and due to a zero tolerance policy at the company because of the Me Too movement's high profile nature at the time and previous sexual misconduct cases at the company that did not involve him, he was let go after a very cursory review of the case by HR. There was no severance package or golden parachute provided due to the nature and timing of the allegation. Roughly a year later, it was proven that the woman's story was completely fabricated, and was done out of a combination of jealousy/attraction and desire for upward mobility. The woman lost her job and had a civil suit brought against her by the man, and the case was settled out of court, but for a very small sum of money compared to the man's loss of income and reputation, without any additional restitution or punishment for what she did. He never got his job back and it took several years for him to get another position at another company that was similar to what he had there.
Again, I'm not saying anything against women having the power or ability to fight for their rights, nor am I saying his story is the norm. I'm just saying we need to be judicious in what we believe. Innocent until proven guilty, right?
