Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Sexual Harassment, Libertarianism and the Civilized Man


By Robert Wenzel

Since each day now brings headlines of sexual harassment by men in power, it is time to put a libertarian perspective on sexual harassment.

First, it must be recognized that at its foundation libertarianism is based on the non-aggression principle.

Thus, prancing around naked in front of women, masturbating in front of them, asking for sexual pleasure from them, may make a man a high-powered sexual primitive, but
it should not be considered a violation of the non-aggression principle, where punishment is required.

As long as a woman is not being held against her will, physically forced to perform a sexual act, or agressed upon in any physical way, there is no violation of the non-aggression principle. Based on news reports, Harvey Weinstein and, technically, Al Franken, if guilty as charged, violated the NAP. Charlie Rose and John Conyers probably not. Though they are all high-powered sexual primitives.

That said, there is no reason to support or be around high-powered sexual primitives, whether they violated the NAP or not, any more than there is any reason to support the antics of white trash or urban primitives.

I can imagine that it is uncomfortable for most women when they find themselves in a situation with a  high-powered sexual primitive when he is in predator mode but I am not sure this is always the case.

I can recall one time, on Wall Street, visiting the office of a low rent stock brokerage firm. It struck me that most of the brokers (all males) were primitives and the female staff walked around in tight mini-skirts quite happy to be "harassed" by the primitives. It seemed as if all were fine in this jungle environment. To each his own.

On the other hand, high-powered sexual primitives, who run a sort-of con game to hustle women into situations they don't want to be in, are a different story. These are true creeps, in addition to being pigs.

I hasten to add, of course, that there may be situations where a woman could be a tease or claim harassment when none occurred.

In most of these situations, it is "he said she said" and I don't know of any magic formula to determine who is lying and who is telling the truth.

Really, old-school rules and civilized behavior come into play here. Something feminists and Cultural Marxists try to destroy. They are all for putting women in positions (e.g., co-ed dorms, working in a man's hotel room) that draw out the high-powered sexual primitives and are then shocked that high-powered sexual primitives take advantage of these situations.

It is quite remarkable how many of the sexual harassments currently in the headlines have occurred in hotel rooms or homes of the primitives. Old school rules would solve a lot of these problems. If you don't want to sleep with a man, don't go to his home or hotel room.

Civilized men (non-primitives) should also respect these rules. It is probably not by accident that the great economists who advocated civilized behavior, free markets, and liberty, also acted in a civilized fashion.

It is safe to say that the great economists Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard and F.A. Hayek were old school gentlemen.

Indeed, in the unpublished diary of Margit von Mises, wife of Ludwig, she reveals that before they were married, Ludwig got Margit a separate hotel room when they traveled.

The high-powered sexual primitives, now being exposed, play into the social justice warrior narrative that all men are pigs, harassing women all the time. That is far from the case. And SJWs stretch far beyond reason what is "harassment"--as they continue to bizarrely demand to be put into situations that draw out the tiny minority that are sexual primitives.

The solution is that civilized behavior should be practiced by both men and women, and taught to our children, and we should leave the jungles to the Cultural Marxists and the primitives. They deserve each other.

Robert Wenzel is Editor & Publisher of  EconomicPolicyJournal.com and Target Liberty. He also writes EPJ Daily Alert and is author of The Fed Flunks: My Speech at the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Follow him on twitter:@wenzeleconomics and on LinkedIn. His youtube series is here: Sunday Morning with Robert Wenzel.The Robert Wenzel podcast is on  iphone and stitcher.

1 comment:

  1. I was once pegged as gay by a woman who felt I didn't press the issue enough (as it were). Santa Cruz was (and is) a very confusing and dangerous place for a straight male. It's a fine line these days between wimp and rapist. I feel for my sons.

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