Despite
his rhetoric being not only ridiculous and laughable but also foul and
repellent, Julien Blanc should not have been blocked from coming to the UK. Blanc
was set to hold seminars giving dating advice that many took strong objection
to and believed would encourage misogyny and sexual harassment. He was denied a
visa by the Home Office after a petition on Change.org, which gathered more than
150,000 signatures, requested he not be let into the country. Stopping him
appearing in person does not effectively challenge harmful attitudes towards
women (it certainly won’t stop him doing his seminars via webcam or people
accessing his videos online). In fact, it avoids having the arguments that need
to be had in explaining why these attitudes are harmful. He needs to be able to
speak so he can be challenged. That could have been protests outside the
meetings or even audience members asking hard questions at the seminars. However,
this is not the only problem with him being blocked. The other problem lies
with the reasoning behind the call to block him. The petition on Change.org by
Caroline Charles claimed that:
“Blanc’s
misogynistic ‘pick-up techniques’ directly exploit vulnerable men who buy into
rape culture and end up believing that this is an appropriate way to behave.”
So
not only are women vulnerable and possible victims of his advice to men but so
are the men themselves. For Charles, they need someone to step in and shield
them from ideas that may harm them and others. Telling people that it is for
their own good that they don’t get to see something potentially harmful is just
infantilising them. Those wanting to stop Julien Blanc from saying the kind of
things he says do not trust people to hear them and behave responsibly. From
the wording of the petition, they don’t think that people are even capable.
This
inclination to stop speakers because of their perceived threat to culture and
society is a wrongheaded approach to challenging unpleasant ideas. It doesn’t
really challenge them at all. From the way this affair has been handled it
gives the impression that his talks are so effective that they cannot be
withstood and so must be totally avoided. People who are going to them simply
aren’t up to thinking critically as their minds have become enfeebled by a
belief in rape culture. If that is the case then Blanc should be discredited
for all to see. Even if some men did go out and behave appallingly after one of
Julien Blanc’s seminars, they would be responsible for their own actions and
they should be criticised and prosecuted. On the whole though, people should be
trusted to go see Julien Blanc’s nonsense without feeling a desire to harass or
cause harm to women afterwards. And if they do, the law should deal with them.
Julien Blanc is responsible for his own actions too and should be arrested if
someone wants to press charges against him if he has assaulted them. There is
no point in free speech if you only allow views that you think help maintain or
create a good or better society.
To
make any credible progress in the fight for women’s rights and overall
equality, misogynists must be allowed to speak so the debates and arguments
against them can be had. If the beliefs of misogynists are not defeated by
better arguments, then the beliefs of liberals are imposed as a dogma. If
there is no fight, then liberal beliefs become orthodoxy and people will not
support them because they believe them but because they have no choice but to
do so. The arguments for equality and feminism need to be kept alive for us to
live up to them, not simply conform to them.
correct blog is correct
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