Vulnerability is something of a buzzword in our time, topical in describing the alarming number of women who have been vulnerable to sexual harassment and bullying as a bargaining chip for jobs or promotion or roles in the entertainment industry. Since the revelations about how Jimmy Savile fixed a lot of other things besides the dreams of children, mostly the well-being of dozens of young girls and women, into a coffin of trauma and or mental ill health (until or unless raised to life) the domino effect has continued steadily onwards as woman after woman has opened up about her experience of harassment or abuse. With Harvey Weinstein came another seminal moment as the #MeToo campaign was born and then baptised by Oprah Winfrey in her speech at the Golden Globes Ceremony in January of this year.
T o be vulnerable’ stems from the Latin vulnerare, to wound, and vulnus, a wound. It can have two quite different meanings: to be capable of being physically or emotionally wounded or hurt, or to be open to persuasion, temptation or censure. To be vulnerable in the second sense is not a sin, is not displeasing to God.
