The issue with sexual harassment is that it operates in a zone that the law has trouble dealing with. And these days, the law has increasingly become the only social control mechanism considered legitimate and with teeth. So the bad actions that #MeToo address have been very hard to control legally, and men have hid behind this difficulty in refusing to address these issues seriously.

#MeToo was essentially like abused workers threatening to bring down the whole company if their issues are not finally taken seriously. The company kept ignoring them using the fact that the workers had to prefer the current situation to the company going bankrupt and them having no jobs. True enough. But after awhile, the workers get so pissed off at the company using this false binary against them that they decide to call the company's bluff. The workers play a dangerous game and risk it all to finally get their issues dealt with.

Women were in this position with the legal and social system. Yes, if the more extreme aspects of #MeToo are left unchallenged, then the damage to the legal system risks causing much more harm to men and women alike than harassment ever did. But women were pissed and not going to take it anymore. They made an extreme move and threatened to burn the whole fucker down if men didn't finally take these issues seriously. They reasoned that the system needed a serious shock and threat to finally take action.

But I see signs now that some of the more extreme challenged to the legal system are being pulled back now that society has been more motivated to find solutions. It could be that 20 years from now, #MeToo will have done good work in changing social norms, while the risks it posed to true legal justice will have been reigned in and legal sanity will prevail.

What do you think?