IN posting a series of online videos asserting sexual abuse she says she experienced as a young singer, Novocastrian country music star Catherine Britt has taken the bold step of putting some of the most uncomfortable and intimate aspects of her life, out there for public consumption.
In doing so, she has joined an international chorus of voices - most, but not all of them, women - who have called out the exploitative sexual pressures they have faced at some point, or points, of their lives.
If we strip away the facades of our social conditioning, sex is the most basic subject that humanity can ever deal with.
Without it, we fade away, we will literally cease to exist as a species.
But from the furthest recesses of pre-history, through to the Me-Too revolt of the 21st century, sex is rarely sex in isolation.
All too often it is entwined with power - male against female, powerful against powerless, the guile of experience against the innocence of youth.
In Catherine Britt's case - accepting, with no reason not to, that all she says is true - it's her personal account of the music industry's version of the Hollywood "casting couch", as it was called in an era when such behaviour was not only expected, it was encouraged by dint of social conditioning that lionised male sexual appetites while illogically crucifying any feminine recognition of eros.
In Ms Britt's case, what happens from here depends on whether she intends to seek "justice" for the exploitation she has described, so far, in relatively general terms.
If crimes have been allegedly committed, the police should investigate and charge, if possible, where warranted.
At a broader level, the dehumanising impacts of sex as power are likely to continue taking their toll on young people in particular, and on society as a whole.
From the start of the 20th century, but especially since the social revolution of the 1960s, women have made great strides in the pursuit of equality - resisted at times, but more recently accepted by a new generation of men who intrinsically understand that an equal society is a better one.
These changes, however, are not enough in themselves. Too many men still see sexual conquest as their prerogative, rather than a meeting of equals.
Even if Catherine Britt's experiences were some 20 years ago, such exploitation still continues.
No man can look himself in the mirror and say that's acceptable.
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