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Time's Up For The President Club & All The President's Men

The Financial Times recently broke a story that is both shocking and unsurprising in equal amounts. Last week, some of the wealthiest men in the UK attended The Presidents Club Charity Dinner. The official purpose of the dinner was to raise money for the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), a world famous children's hospital in the heart of London. However, the behaviour displayed by the attendees was beyond the pale. The charity dinner was held in a 5* hotel in London's Mayfair district. The attendees were all men, and the hostesses were all women. Unfortunately, thanks to the patriarchal society that we all live in, you can all guess what happened next. The female hostesses were subjected to lewd comments, groping and everything else under sexual harassment's dirty umbrella. Why were the female hostesses required to wear revealing black outfits to a black tie event for charity? Because 360 immensely rich and powerful British men were to be in attendance. 

With each new tweet under the hashtags #MeToo, #TimesUp and the like, it is clear to see that women are being harassed, and abused by men in essentially all aspects of life. Finding out that even within the confines of a supposed "charity event", such disgusting acts are still happening, is a very difficult pill to swallow. Realising that even charitable acts have seedy underbellies is enough to make you cancel all Direct Debits to charity organisations. It is difficult to commit to a charity when you consider the idea that the person at the top (most likely male) may have attended this or something of a similar nature.