My thoughts on having my ass groped by a woman last weekend, and how it relates to the Franken case

When this happened to me, I knew in an instant that the woman who did it was innocent. It made me wonder whether Al Franken might likewise be innocent, and his photo-op accusers innocent of of any ill intent as well.

I was helping my sister dismantle her exhibition booth at the end of a trade show when I was surprised to feel a hand placed firmly on the right side of my right cheek, and then sliding lightly across my backside. I looked over my shoulder to see a woman sidling past me to speak to my sister.

There wasn't even a moment of doubt in my mind. I knew the woman had only meant to let me know she was passing behind me, so that I didn't back into her as I worked. She had probably meant to place her hand on my hip-bone, and had missed by a bit.

I have the luxury of that knowledge and assurance because I am a man. It's a luxury that women do not have in our society. No woman who found herself in a situation like mine, with a man's hand passing across her ass, could rest easy in the knowledge that it was an innocent gesture. A woman's life experience is very different from mine, and she would be wildly unrealistic if she did not presume, or at least suspect, that she had just been subjected to a sexual assault.

And so it may be with the Franken photo-ops. In posing for these photos thousands and thousands of times, it's a statistical certainty that hands will occasionally land where they shouldn't. And when that happens to a woman, she is forced to suspect that it was an assault. She'd be awfully unrealistic not to suspect it, given her experiences and observances as a woman.

She'd probably keep her suspicions in the back of her mind for years, or else maybe confide them at the time to only a few people close to her. Then, when the news broke of accusations against Franken, her suspicions would be validated. She would do what a woman should rightfully do in her situation. She would come forward and plainly tell what happened.

I suspect this may be the case with the Franken photo-op accusers. They may have quietly carried their suspicions for years, until the LeeAnn Tweeden accusations stormed the headlines. Then, with their suspicions seemingly confirmed, some may have decided to brave the slings and arrows of public opinion and come forward. Others may have preferred to protect their privacy and tell their story anonymously.

I don't automatically presume that my speculations here are correct, and that Franken is innocent. After all, it certainly could be true that this is a man with the same sort of wandering hands that legions of women have encountered in their lives. But the facts we have at present amount to terribly scant evidence for throwing a senator out of office. I can't help but think that a terrible mistake may have been made, much to the detriment of the nation and, yes, to the detriment of the vital, burgeoning #metoo movement.