The Texas Legislatures Sexist Little Secret
In January, I returned to my home state to cover the Texas Legislature. After a seven-year absence, I was eager to spend the next 140 days writing for this magazine about the theatricsand occasional clowneryof the Legislatures 2013 regular session. I had no idea what I was getting into.
It didnt take me long to realize that as a woman, and especially a young woman, Id be treated differently than my male colleagues. Within weeks, Id already heard a few horrifying stories. Like the time a former Observer staffer, on her first day in the Capitol, was invited by a state senator back to his office for personal tutoring. Or, last session, when Rep. Mike Tuffy Hamilton interrupted Marisa Marquez during a House floor debate to ask if her breasts were real or fake.
Thankfully I never experienced anything so sexually explicit. Instead, I encountered a string of subtle but demeaning comments. One of the first interviews I conducted for the Observer, in February, was with a male senator about an anti-abortion bill. I was asking questions about whether the bill would reduce access to abortion. At the end of the interview, as soon as I turned off my recorder, he said, How old are you, sweetheart? You look so young.
Another day, near the end of the regular session, I was at the Capitol (doing interviews for this story, coincidentally) when a House page stopped me on my way out of the chamber. Ive never seen you in here before, he said. Who do you work for? I answered the question, assuming that he wanted to see my press badge. Well, uh, this may seem forward, he stammered, but Im not sure if Ill ever see you againcould I maybe take you out to lunch or dinner some time? He looked about 16, red-faced and innocent. I politely declined. When I walked over to the Senate chamber, a staffer stopped me. Wow, he said. You look really beautiful today. My face turned red. I thanked him and walked to a seat at the press table. It was the third time that day the staffer had mentioned my appearance, and I was beginning to feel that what I looked like mattered more than my workat least to the men in the building. At a certain point, after enough of these run-inswhich included male staffers from both chambers, some of whom I knew to be married, hitting on me, making comments about my physical appearance, touching my armit finally occurred to me that, when I was at work, I was often fending off advances like I was in a bar.
-snip-
Full LONG article with video and photos here:
http://www.texasobserver.org/the-texas-legislatures-sexist-little-secret/