Harassment: Abusing power is gender neutral

Re: “Capitol women talk of unseemly sexual advances,” (TNT, 11/1).

The recent parade of charges ignores the fundamental truth, which is that this is an issue of abuse of power, not based solely on male vs. female gender.

In my case, an ex-boss was a female who used criticism, false claims, perjury and public rebuke to achieve exactly the type of result at the core of “sexual harassment.”

It was not truly sexual but simply amounted to unwarranted abusive behavior. But the outcome is just as destructive.

So when these cases are raised, it is important to recognize that abuse of power is gender neutral. Both men or women can be victims, so we need to get away from viewing the crime as only housed under the Y chromosome.

This story was originally published November 10, 2017 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Harassment: Abusing power is gender neutral."