by Guest Blogger Gail Z. Martin
I’ve seen some posters say “I don’t know why women who run into a Harvey Weinstein don’t just say ‘no’ or report him.”
For the same reason that a bunch of powerful, wealthy white men (senators and congressmen) are putting up with our Abuser-in-Chief. Look what happens to the people who say no. 
They are fired, mocked, publicly humiliated, demeaned, have their qualifications discredited, their character assassinated and get pilloried in the court of public opinion. 45s loyalists troll them on social media and in sympathetic news media. They’ll be cut out of lucrative deals and not invited to business and social events where important things happen and movers and shakers talk. Favors and contracts will be withheld. A whisper in an ear will close doors on new jobs or plum appointments. And while 45 may not swing a punch, we see plenty of angry sympathizers ready to escalate to violence with a hint of permission that are scary enough to make anyone hesitate to rock the boat.
This is how abusers work, whether it’s a small-town bully, a gaslighting boyfriend or an emotionally abusive father. The pattern against those who are targeted or who dare to speak out or say no is ignore, mock, discredit, isolate, demean, destroy.
Intimidation is abuse.
So if Congress can be intimidated by a master abuser, let’s not throw shade on young actors and actresses who knew that no one would have listened to them when they were ‘nobody’ against a powerful person who had the ability to destroy their lives.
Gail Z. Martin is a novelist who writes thrilling fantasy and science fiction adventures. her web page is here.
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