Monica Lewinsky: Patient 0 of Worldwide Cyberbullying

Monica Lewinsky's talk was one that truly highlighted the issues with society today. To quote her, "at 22 (she) fell in love with her boss". Due to this, she became the culprit of derogatory language such as being called a "slut", "mistress", "bitch" and other disgusting words that I can not fathom to even type while Bill Clinton, a party also involved, did not nearly get as detrimental treatment from the media. Lewinsky's life was never the same, and would never be the same after the story broke of her love affair with Clinton. People violated her personal rights by raiding personal phone calls without her consent and used this so-called proof to justify their endless hateful comments. Monica Lewinksy on many sources including her TED Talk affirmed that Clinton and her relationship was "completely consensual" hence not being a product of sexual harassment or assault. This is partly why I believe that this is more of an issue of cyberbullying than it is relevant to the MeToo Movement. Lewinsky was not sexually harassed by Clinton nor was she forced into a sexual relationship she did not want to be in, again, she said: "she was in love with her boss". People argue its a part of the movement because of the age difference and because he was her superior, but I do not believe that is the case. In a Vox article, she stated, that "any abuse came in the aftermath" of the scandal through her public humiliation via the internet. Although the creation of the internet first became a phenomenon in the 1980s, cyberbullying did not exist or have a name until this scandal, in 1998. Lewinsky illuminates the absolute horror she had of every private aspect of her relationship with Clinton, and arguably of every "part of herself that she hates" being readily accessible online for anyone to have in a matter of seconds. Although Clinton did get impeached for lying about his affair under oath, he was able to walk outside, continue to help other Democratic candidates, and even still remain to be a somewhat respected politician. After all, what male politician isn't rewarded for having affairs with a younger woman (*cough* Trump). Lewinsky's life was altered for decades, and Bill Clinton's guilt did not justify how he was able to live freely and she was still ashamed of her existence because of the gravity of cyberbullying that was present. Oh, and let me also mention that although the relationship was consensual, Clinton, like the politician he is, downplayed their relationship essentially calling her an anxiety-crutch whom he used to release the tension of his presidential duties. This means that Lewinsky was degraded to an anxiety-crutch mistress, striping her of any other piece of her identity, striping her of being human, while Clinton was allowed to continue being a perfectly functioning politician even having confidence to talk freely about the affair in Hillary's documentary. 

Lewinsky emphasized that this constant media attention could have resulted in her death if not of the support of her family and friends, like many others who have been the culprits of cyberbullying. I believe that the work that Lewinsky is doing to work to end cyber bullying is monumental. She has direct experience of barely being able to live her life due to one-click of a button. That click made her life unmanageable not for a few days, weeks, or even months, but countless years. Her story can provide hope to those who believe like she once did, that their own story of cyberbullying will have no end. Her story shows that there is light at the end of the tunnel and there is a reason to not allow cyberbullying to push to the end of your story. She did not allow herself to get humiliated to death. Lewinsky's story reminds me of the story of the convocation speaker John Halligan when he spoke about his son getting cyberbullied to death. Yes, I was one of those people crying in the audience as he talked about the pain of losing his son, but that is the case for all the culprits. I think that online it is very easy for people to say and do things that they would never imagine saying in real life. In some ways, the darkest part of people's personality are highlighted and although they may think what they say is just words, it may be that response exactly that pulls someone over the edge. Words matter, said and unsaid. John in his convocation emphasized that it is just as much the bystander's fault as it is the bully's for the negative effect mentally and physically on the victim. In order to end cyberbullying and bullying, in general, we need the people who are against this behavior to be louder than those who encourage it. Unfortunately, Lewinsky did not have this privilege, neither did John's son, but it is those stories exactly that allow for society now to do better. We can all agree to change our state by agreeing not to be bystanders and to stand up when something isn't right. Sure, Lewinsky was involved with a married man, but she was 22, and Clinton was also involved. She should not have had to conceal her identity for decades, she deserved to be heard. Although she is comfortable with her story now, she should have been when everything else occurred. If individually we commit to valuing everyone's story and living a life of anti-hate, we can assure those deaths or even changes in physical and mental health do not occur in the life of these victims.