FitzGibbon Media and the problem of sexual harassment in the progressive movement

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http://www.vox.com/2015/12/21/10632508/fitzgibbon-sexual-harassment-progressive

Another former staffer said FitzGibbon didn't react well when he was told about sexual harassment allegations against someone else at the firm. He was angry and dismissive, yelling about how he didn't believe that such a "good guy" could do something like that. FitzGibbon also had issues with some anti-rape campaigns the firm ran, according to the staffer. At one point he confronted an employee about the campaign in front of about 10 other people. He questioned the tactics of holding "alleged" rapists accountable, talked about how false rape accusations had ruined his friend's life, and said that being accused of rape was actually worse than being raped.

"A lot of people heard that. How do you report when you know that's the feeling? Who wants to put themselves through that?" the staffer said.

Tardiff said FitzGibbon's personality and the firm's structure also made it difficult for anyone to come forward. "There was no real HR. Everything flowed through or from Trevor," she said. "His tendency to respond extremely personally to any criticism also fostered an environment where speaking up — in basically any situation — came with the risk of him lashing out in a way that would make things even more difficult."

The company did have someone with an HR director title, another staffer said, but that employee came on board in a different position, and a lot of people didn't know she had the HR role. The company also never held a training on sexual harassment, despite repeated requests from staff.

No doubt the sociopathic creep in questions referred to women who complain about misogyny as "SJWs" and "sex-negative" and considered himself an 'ally' because he was pro-choice.

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1. More:

The problem is much bigger than FitzGibbon, progressives told Vox. "Trevor certainly isn't the only one in the progressive space who has done this to me or women I've known, and he won't be the last," Mary said.

"In more than a decade in the movement, I've never worked at a progressive organization or campaign where sexual harassment wasn't an issue of some kind," said one female progressive strategist who asked not to be named. "I think it's a lot harder for progressive organizations to create a space that's free from that than people think it is."

...

Another progressive strategist recalled moving to DC and having three different women give her lists of which members of Congress she should avoid being alone in a room with. The lists included members from both parties, and there were enough of them that all three lists had different names.

Enduring inappropriate advances from men in power is "bipartisan and almost like a rite of passage in DC from what female friends have told me," Mary said. And of course, politics isn't the only place where men get away with routinely abusing their power over women who fear not being believed, or fear retaliation because of a man's influence. Just look at Bill Cosby .

But when these problems occur even at organizations where feminism and inclusivity are taken for granted as basic values, it shows how stubborn and persistent sexism can be. It's not necessarily that the movement is hypocritical; it's just made up of human beings who were raised in a deeply patriarchal culture. "We all grew up with these prejudices, and fixing them isn't easy," said one progressive strategist. "Supporting the right causes isn't enough. This is hard work, and people who want a pass on that need to get out of the way."