Essay on #MeToo: Gretchen Carlson's Fight Against Sexual Harassment

In 2017, "sexual harassment" and "#MeToo Movement" were the words floating everywhere, growing on the internet, and bringing people together to stand up and fight against sexual harassment in different workplaces. Gretchen Carlson, former Miss America, now a television commentator, author, and chairwoman on the Miss America board of directors, has recently championed women's rights especially those regarding sexual harassment in the work environment. After leaving Fox News in June 2016, Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the late Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, which led to his ouster. Since then, Carlson has been campaigning on her "Be Fierce" movement and focusing on female empowerment and pushing for federal legislation to toughen laws related to workplace sexual harassment. In her talk given at the TEDWomen conference in November 2017, Gretchen Carlson stresses the issue of sexual abuse in the workplaces. By sharing her own stories and other women's experiences in the TED Woman conference, Gretchen Carlson successfully makes a connection with the audience's emotion and persuades her audience to fight together to eliminate sexual exploitation in the places of work. The paper elaborates on sexual manipulation as well as the sexual exploitation among the women in the diverse work environments.

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Sexual harassment in the workplace has been an issue for a long time and unfortunately, has not been resolved. What really kick-started the discussion topic was the sexual-abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein. In October 2017, The New York Times and The New Yorker reported that American film producer Harvey Weinstein had raped, sexually assaulted and sexually abused women over a period of at least 30 years. More than 80 women in the film industry have stood up against him with allegations. Moreover, accusations on Weinstein have helped generate the #MeToo Movement across the internet and called for more people to be concerned about the problems of sexual harassment in the work environments. The above scenario gave Carlson a great opportunity to give a speech about the situation.

In Gretchen Carlson's talk, she listed horrific examples for her ethical appeals to describe why sexual harassment is a moral dilemma. For example, forcing a woman against her will to have physical relationships with someone, using sex to award promotions, and treating a person like a sex object are some of the scenarios that refer to sexual abuse or manipulation. These immoral behaviors that Carlson states challenge the audience's moral values and makes them be enraged about the issue of sexual exploitation. Carlson illustrates her own experience from her time as Miss America, where one man tried to kiss her without saying anything, and another forced her face into his crotch. Carlson recalls these events "suck the life out of all of your self-confidence". (05:47) Carlson also shares the story of a woman who was involved in the sexual abuse to get promotion at work; in the process, all the woman got from her boss was, "Get up on the desk and spread 'em". (00:01) It is clever how Carlson adopts these examples which are filled with powerful words and vivid imagery for they draw the audience's attention. A sentence like "suck the life out of all of your self-confidence..." is very emotional. Who would want to lose their self-confidence in that fashion? No one. Carlson uses emotional words to generate negative feelings in the minds of the audience. The words evoke hopeless feelings in the minds of the people, and in turn, motivate the listeners to take actions to correct these dishonorable behaviors. Additionally, Carlson makes the listeners feel more sympathetic for herself and other victims.

When it comes to emotional appeals, Gretchen Carlson indicates why everyone should care about ending sexual harassment right now. Carlson specifically points out fight against sexual abuse should be done to safeguard the future for the kids, let's stop this for the next generation!" (12:24) She explains this statement with a story of her daughter facing bullies at school. In the year 2016 when Carlson finally decided to stand up to fight against sexual harassment, she was afraid how her children were going to react upon her decision. Carlson's daughter was constantly bullied at school by some kids. One day she came home and told her, "Mommy, I found the courage to do it, because I saw you doing it, I was so proud you were my mom." (13:07) her daughter finally found the courage to confront the bullies because she saw what Carlson did: showed self-confidence to other people, stood tall, always speak up and fierce. During this part of the speech, Carlson sounds more emotional which makes herself more convincing to the audience. And by sharing her daughter's story enabled the audience feel the exigency and responsibility to eliminate sexual harassment not only for themselves but also for their next generation.

Furthermore, Gretchen Carlson mentions that "Thousands of women started reaching out to me to share their own stories of pain and agony and shame. They told me that I became their voice -- they were voiceless." (02:31). In this sentence, the phrase "thousands of women" illustrates the fact that being sexually harassed in the workplace is a prevalent phenomenon. This fact shocked the audience and made them feel the urge to help. When those women are not able to speak of their pains, they look to a public figure like Carlson, who is an active feminist, to speak for them. So when Carlson speaks against sexual harassment in the workplace, the audience is more likely to take account of her credibility and popularity.

"One in three women -- that we know of -- have been sexually harassed in the workplace. Seventy-one percent of those incidences never get reported." (03:54) Gretchen Carlson uses statistics to establish the fact that a lot of women are victims of unwanted sexual advances. This can lead the audience to worry about the women in their lives. Numbers don't lie. They are easier to remember and more convincing. Therefore, using statistics is a good way to raise awareness of this situation and change people's attitude about it, and ultimately, urge her audience to take affirmation actions.

"Ninety-eight percent of United States corporations right now have sexual harassment training policies. Seventy percent have prevention programs." (09:41) "Ninety-eight percent" and "seventy percent" show that many corporations are starting to focus on this issue. Knowing this information, the audience can have the confidence to fight, the hope for success, and the courage to not be a bystander of sexual harassment.

For as many sexual harassment training policies, there are as many obstacles to win a case in court. "It's a secret. You don't get the same witnesses or depositions. In many cases, the company picks the arbitrator for you. There are no appeals, and only 20 percent of the time does the employee win." (11:17). For this part, Carlson proposes the idea that changing laws is a way to resolve the problem. Carlson mentions that "only 20 percent of the time does the employee win," it causes people to worry what if they are in a similar situation. Those employees need more forces to join them and help change the laws to gain more power in order to fight against sexual harassment. These victims need all the help they can get. By stating this content, Carlson means to get the audience's attention, lead them to be aware and focus on this issue. This statement lets the audience think that changing the law should be done.

As Carlson states in her speech, "We will stand up and speak up and have our voices heard. We will be the women we were meant to be. And above all, we will always be fierce." (14:32) Gretchen Carlson presents a grave matter for her audience to consider. She successfully connects with the audience with her ideas using rhetorical methods such as emotional appeal, statistics, and her credibility. And she clearly explains three ways to stop sexual harassment in the workplace in her speech. Carlson moved the audience's emotions, appealed to their moral sense of decency, gained their trust, and last but not least, gave them the courage and confidence to fight, to stand up and to be strong. Sexual harassment in the workplace is still a big issue, but Carlson's speech and involvement help bring this issue to the forefront of people's consciousness and urge them to take action, whether it's preventing it or eliminating it altogether.

Reference

Carlson, Gretchen "How We Can End Sexual Harassment at Work." TEDWoman, November 2017.

www.ted.com/talks/gretchen_carlson_how_we_can_end_sexual_harassment_at_work