When Will Congress Get its Sh*t Together?

Sexual Harassment in Congress

One thing that can be agreed on(and if you don't agree, I suggest you check yourself and your morals) is that sexual harassment is a horrible thing that no one should ever have to encounter. We're all on the same page, right? Great. With all of the recent allegations against harassers - Bill O'Reilly, Harvey Weinstein, and Kevin Spacey to name a few- two female lawmakers have opened up about their experiences with Congressmen who engaged in sexual harassment.

Congresswoman Jackie Speier has been long pressing for a stronger congressional anti-harassment system, but she has yet to see Congress act on this issue. There is absolutely no reason for Congress to not have acted upon this already. So what if it makes a little mess? The mess that is this country will cover it up just like an unnamed Congressman probably tried to do when he harassed a young female aide. The aide was met by the member at the door when he was just in a towel and he invited her in. She didn’t go in and subsequently quit her job

This aide found a new job eventually, but this should never have had to happen. How is Congress in this "oh so great" country helping women and men who've been in these situations? It's doing nothing and this has to change ASAP. This is the ONE ISSUE THAT THERE IS A GENERAL CONSENSUS ON AND NOTHING IS BEING DONE ABOUT IT! There are Democrats and Republicans actually agreeing on something, but Congress is off in La-La Land doing what they're not supposed to be doing.

There has been a vow from a decent amount of Senators to make harassment training a requirement as the first step in razing workplace misconduct in Congress, but the House has yet to approve. Personally, I think the bill should've been passed as soon as it hit the table. Yes, there are other important issues going on, but these victims have suffered long enough and deserve some solace. And who knows, maybe this will inspire other companies to do the same. Because honestly America, enough is enough already. It is time to, well for starters, stop sexually harassing people (it's gross and horrible and just don't do it), but to make it harder for these disgusting people to do it.

The House better get its shit together and work to exterminate the government of these people. This will hopefully set an example to other American, and even national, companies and businesses. Take the film industry for example: Harvey Weinstein has had a lot more than 15 minutes of fame. He’s had over 50 women accuse him of sexual misconduct. Some of those women include Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Angelina Jolie. And there are even more men than the ones already listed- Harvey weinstein’s brother Bob Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and even PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP!

Honestly at this point I have nothing more to say because this shouldn’t even be an issue. Men and women shouldn’t be pigs and disregard people’s bodily autonomy. Quick lesson on bodily autonomy: it is basically a right that grants your control of your body; you decide who can touch you, who can have sex with you, if you want to donate your organs, etc. Even dead people have this basic right. That’s why doctors can’t take the organs or skin or blood from a corpse without consent previously given to them or asking the family. But when people, like Weinstein or that Congressman, abuse this, what they’re doing is not only scaring the victim, but essentially giving them less rights than a dead person. And that my friends is just sad.

As I make my final statements on this topic THAT CONGRESS SHOULD ALREADY HAVE LAWS MADE TO PREVENT I want to pose a few questions to get your brains moving and make it a little bit easier for you to see the issue at hand (because honestly, this is a mess and there is no way to fix it unless Congress decides to get off their lazy asses and do something or people decide to stop sexually harassing other people- both which seem improbable.)

• What do you think should be included in the sexual harassment training that Congress has posed?
• What do you think should happen to the harassers once they’re found guilty of sexually harassing someone?
• Should there be a new law on sexual harassment to hopefully obliterate this very current issue?
• (completely unrelated,but) If you were to witness someone being sexually harassed, would you do something about it?

All in all, I think we can all come to the consensus that it is time for the House to approve the training and start working down the path of comforting and helping the victims as well as clearing out the harassers. This is only one issue, but maybe actually getting something done for once will motivate Congress to do some more work. It’s a long shot, but I’m going to keep dreaming.