Before the Lewinsky scandal, NOW and many feminists talked about how sexual harrassment was about power, that male executives could use their ability to hire and fire and promote and demote to sexually harrass and/or pressure less powerful female subordinates into sexual activity, because the female subordinates were basically powerless and fearful of losing their jobs. But somehow, many feminists went from that position to defending the President of the United States from having sexual relations with a young female White House intern as sexual activity between consenting adults. And many continued to defend Bill Clinton even as Clinton subordinates tried to smear Lewinsky as a nutty stalker.
Here is a link to a 1998 article from Vanity Fair on it.
http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/1998/05/williams199805
<Okay, class, let’s review: The man in question has been sued for sexual harassment over an episode that allegedly included dropping his trousers to waggle his erect penis at a woman who held a $6.35-an-hour clerical job in the state government over which he presided. Another woman has charged that when she asked him for a job he invited her into his private office, fondled her breasts, and placed her hand on his crotch. A third woman confided to friends that when she was a 21-year-old intern she began an affair with the man—much older, married, and the head of the organization whose lowliest employee she was. Actually, it was less an affair than a service contract, in which she allegedly dashed into his office, when summoned, to perform oral sex on him. After their liaison was revealed, he denied everything, leaving her to be portrayed as a tramp and a liar. Or, in his own words, “that woman.”
Let us not even mention the former lover who was steered to a state job; or the law-enforcement officers who say the man used them to solicit sexual partners for him; or his routine use of staff members, lawyers, and private investigators to tar the reputation of any woman who tries to call him to account for his actions.
Can you find the problems with his behavior? Take your time: these problems are apparently of an order so subtle as to escape the notice of many of the smartest women in America—the writers, lawyers, activists, officeholders, and academics who call themselves feminists.>
Pretending all of Bill Clinton's problems were just Republican witch hunts is to live in denial.
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