Samantha Bee on the #MeToo Backlash: “What Men Literally Cannot Understand Is: This Isn’t About Them”

Here’s a great segment from last night’s Full Frontal, where Samantha Bee responds to the #MeToo backlash surrounding stories like the “Shitty Media Men” list and the recent debate surrounding the Aziz Ansari allegations. “What many fail to understand is that it doesn’t have to be rape to ruin your life, and it doesn’t have to ruin your life to be worth speaking out about. Any kind of sexual harassment or coercion is unacceptable,” Bee says. “So what the fuck are women supposed to do to protect ourselves? If we go public with a story we’re petty crybabies hell-bent on destroying men’s careers. If we write a secret list to protect each other we’re gossipy shrews telling lies in the shadows. What men literally cannot understand is: This isn’t about them!” Later, Bee offers up a round of apologies:

I’m sorry for a lot of things. I’m sorry that anyone ever thought the contents of that list or any of the other ways we protect ourselves from men were your goddamn business. I’m sorry you thought you got to choose what experiences we can share, or how we react to the shitty ways we’ve been treated. And to men specifically: I’m sorry a request to be respected makes office culture a little less fun and flirty, and I’m sorry we tattled about that stuff you did on us, even when it was totally not rape! But listen: If you don’t want to tune in to your partner’s feelings throughout sex, maybe you shouldn’t be fucking a person at all. May I suggest a coin purse or a Ziploc bag full of grape jelly? Men: If you say you’re a feminist, then fuck like a feminist. And if you don’t want to do that, take off your fucking pin, because we are not your accessories.

Watch the full segment above.