Monica Lewinsky and Expendable Women

I think that something that is important to consider about this story is the treatment of Lewinsky in the media. Many articles about her at the time would be considered fairly offensive today. One article from The Irish Times asked:

“And how does it occur that a young woman who does not, charitably, bear a physical resemblance to Sophia Loren or share an intellectual kinship with, say, Madeleine Albright, whose diary entries do not put one in mind of Virginia Woolf, how is it that this young woman can manage to find herself everyday traipsing the narrow, thickly carpeted hallways of the White House West Wing to have a chat with the leader of the free world?” (https://www.irishtimes.com/news/lewinsky-s-story-contains-a-disastrous-ring-of-credibility-1.178249)

Lewinsky was not only attacked for her credibility but for her appearance and her intellect. She was slutshamed and attacked, while Clinton was simply criticized for his actions. I think often today the term “cyberbullying” conjures up middle school assemblies and posters in your guidance counselor’s office, when in reality it is a very serious issue. Prominent women are disproportionately targeted online, and particularly targeted for their sexuality. Lewinsky became both a target of harassment and a butt of jokes in a way that I think a man would not.

Something important to understand in the modern age is how power dynamics can affect relationships. Many women who spoke out in the Me Too movement were not physically forced to have sex, but felt coerced, and often pressured for fear of hurting their careers. Harvey Weinstein sexually harrassed many young actresses, and got away with it because he was in a position of such power. Monica Lewinsky herself has said that while her relationship with President Clinton was consensual, it constituted a gross abuse of power. Clinton may not have forced Lewinsky to do anything, but his status over her, along with the age gap between them made the relationship extremely inappropriate in my opinion. Clinton took advantage of Lewinsky, and although his actions were not illegal they were wrong. 

It’s also significant to look at how politics, and particularly the Democratic party have evolved. The Me Too movement involved a number of politicians, and reactions were mixed. Senator Al Franken, after being accused of sexual misconduct, was forced to resign his position. Donald Trump has famously been accused by a number of women and has yet to face any repercussions. However, I don’t think it’s entirely fair to say that Democrats are in the moral right on the issue of sexual misconduct and Republicans are in the wrong. The attacks against Monica Lewinsky in the ‘90s were vicious, and I don’t think we can dismiss them entirely as a product of their time. Often in politics I think it becomes a calculation of how important the person is to a party or movement, and how damaging their reputation will be. The Brett Kavanaugh hearings similarly illustrated this. The attacks and treatment of Christine Blasey Ford called to mind the Anita Hill hearings of the ‘90s and raised the question “how much has really changed?” We like to say that we have come far in the past twenty years, but these hearings illustrated just how twisted our political system is—not that these women should have been completely taken at their word, but they should have been afforded at least some respect, of which they received none. I think that until the Democratic party is put in a similar situation we can’t know exactly how they would react, but I feel that one thing is clear: the establishment protects powerful men at the expense of women.