Gloria Steinem on her Bill Clinton essay: ‘I wouldn’t write the same thing now’ (Thu 30 Nov 2017)
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/30/gloria-steinem-on-her-bill-clinton-essay-i-wouldnt-write-the-same-thing-now
The feminist icon spoke to the Guardian about her 1998 op-ed, which drew criticism: ‘what you write in one decade you don’t necessarily write in the next’
...But Steinem said she did not regret writing the New York Times article in the first place...
...At the time of her letter, former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones was suing Clinton for sexual harassment, and Kathleen Willey had just given an interview to 60 Minutes about Clinton making an unwanted sexual advance.
Clinton, Willey claimed, kissed her on the mouth during a private meeting to discuss job opportunities. She pushed back away from him, she claimed, and he touched her breasts and placed her hand on his erect penis.
The gravest allegation came one year later, when former campaign volunteer Juanita Broaddrick accused Clinton of rape. Clinton has always denied non-consensual sexual contact.
Steinem’s op-ed has been held up as a prime example of how Democrats and their allies reflexively rallied to Clinton’s defense, an argument made most forcefully by the writer Caitlin Flanagan in the Atlantic.
“It slut-shamed, victim-blamed and age-shamed; it urged compassion for and gratitude to the man the women accused,” Flanagan . “The notorious 1998 New York Times op-ed by Gloria Steinem must surely stand as one of the most regretted public actions of her life....”
...Jones claimed Clinton in his role as Arkansas’s governor summoned her to his hotel room, where he touched her, tried to kiss her, dropped his pants and asked for oral sex.
A judge later dismissed Jones’s case, saying Clinton’s alleged behavior, while “boorish and offensive”, did not meet the legal definition of sexual harassment...
One or two of the Senators at the hearing yesterday asked Kav if he believed Anita Hill. I wish he would have responded back Do you believe Jennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, Kathleen Wiley, etc.
Man that would have been priceless.
A judge later dismissed Jones’s case, saying Clinton’s alleged behavior, while “boorish and offensive”, did not meet the legal definition of sexual harassment...
She sure got paid by Bill, in effect admitting guilt.