There are women in seats of power who sit with men in seats of power and some of those men display anti-women behaviour but some of these women never call them out on their conduct. The abusive and the abused appear to be in a toxic embrace in a system that is not even about keeping up appearances anymore. These women who sit with such men are often silent perhaps because they believe it secures their places in positions of power. Or maybe they are afraid of also being abused. Or perhaps their motives and goals are all about self.
But it is not the women to be blamed for these men’s words and actions. There are men in positions of power who also do not hold other men in positions of power accountable for their toxic behaviour. The pillars of the patriarchy stand strong here. Shaped by it, beaten into it and too haughty to see the errors in their ways there is no end. This toxic system in which we live is upheld every time women are blamed for their own abuse and when men are excused for perpetuating abuse. The outrage is sometimes loud but brief.