When men act like Eric Schneiderman in private, who cares how they act in public?

There is no ideological monopoly on misogyny or patriarchy or sexual harm, a fact that most women have learned from bitter experience. I’m not so naive as to believe that a man’s voting record is going to be predictive of his potential for violence. That he seems to go to the same political rallies as I doesn’t mean he won’t draw me into an inappropriate conversation. The cool bumper stickers on his car won’t guarantee my safety if he drives slowly by while I’m on my evening run. And whenever I hear about the latest political comrade or well-respected colleague to be the subject of other women’s stories, I am never surprised when his actions do not match up with his attested ideals. When the difference is great, I am only disappointed. Surprise is the privilege of someone who has never been assaulted by someone they know.

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So I suspect it is mostly men who are fascinated by the overblown irony in anyone’s descent from hero of the #MeToo movement to a culprit caught up in its rough justice. On the right, this fascination has taken the form of mainly resurrecting the left’s unfortunately quasi-romantic swoons over Schneiderman (see the coverage of a Samantha Bee segment literally engaging in Schneiderman hero-worship). But the liberal left has its set of those who want to revisit these falls from grace, as well: Ryan Murphy wants to make a show about them!

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