Given that the headlines on the past couple of days will probably be fodder the umpteenth season of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, the media monster has feasted on the paradoxical moral and emotional outrage that keeps viewers watching the cases of sexual harassment and assault surrounding major male leaders in institutions like politics and sport in the US. I’ve been mulling it over, obviously annoyed at both the amount of coverage these cases are taking up but also disgusted at the portrayal of the alleged perpetrators’ dismissals of their allegations.

I keep thinking to myself, why so much emotion, Val? This is to be expected.

And then, after reading an article on Colorlines, I realize Hermain Cain and Joe Paterno are cut from the same cloth. Akiba Solomon has it right.

Patriarchy eats its women and children and criminally cripples its men.

I think what’s sad is the culture of patriarchy that allows for people to condone these heinous violations and now the circulation of that kind of behavior as top headlines.

UPDATE: I’m over it.