Timing is everything. As the countdown to the 2016 presidential campaign ticks closer, those rumored to be in the running are painstakingly maintaining a clean public image for their respective parties and tightening their political associations. Hillary Clinton is at the forefront of the potential nominations for the Democratic Party, and as such, is working hard to highlight her achievements as Secretary of State and former senator, rather than the tragedy of the Benghazi scandal and her time spent as the First Lady during an infidelity trial on the world stage.
Earlier this week, Monica Lewinsky, the young intern of Bill Clinton’s presidency with whom he engaged in nine acts of inappropriate extramarital sexual contact, resurfaced in the media, in the form of a personal essay in Vanity Fair in which she discusses her belief that feminism failed her. In particular, she mentions her unwillingness to call herself a feminist “with a capital F,” stating that “The movement’s leaders failed in articulating a position that was not essentially anti-woman during the witch hunt of 1998. In the case of the New York Supergals, it should not have been that hard for them to swoon over the president without attacking and shaming me. Instead, they joined the humiliation derby.”
Lewinsky makes several very important points. In the case of leaders of the feminist movement flocking to the president in his defense, she is completely justified in the criticism of such hypocritical, one-sided ignorance. Once the onslaught of slut shaming aimed at Lewinsky began, she didn’t deserve to be the sole bearer of the burden brought on by the media’s response to the affair. The “witch hunt” of the late 1990s made Lewinsky out to be a “narcissistic loony toon,” according to Hillary Clinton, when it is known that the relationship, regardless of how inappropriate, was consensual. Both parties were willing and knew the implications. However, it was also unfair of Lewinsky to have expected support for her actions. Could she have expected support for her against unfair, biased media angles? Absolutely. Support for infidelity? Not so much.
With regard to the possibility of Hillary Clinton running for president, a woman similarly lampooned by the country during the scandal as a wife who couldn’t keep her husband interested, the likelihood of her aiming for the presidency must be considered. Why did Lewinsky choose now to make such a bold statement about feminism, and what broader implications does it have?
Most prominently, those in the gender studies field point to Lewinsky, among other prominent female figures in mainstream media for an example of the general attitude about feminism. Women who should have known better jumped on Lewinsky, and professionals of the field cite the consistent tear-down of women by other women as an example of just how terribly patriarchal norms have altered how society operates.
Anna Holmes, the founder of the alternative feminist news circuit website Jezebel, countered Lewinsky’s belief that “feminism with a capital F” failed her, saying, “I am uncomfortable with the idea that ‘feminists’ failed Lewinsky. I am far more comfortable with the idea that certain high-profile activists, intellectuals and writers who’d exhibited a measure of sophistication and sensitivity with regards to gender politics failed her, and failed her big time.”
There is no question that Lewinsky was pushed aside and left to the media hounds. But, if anything, this stands as testament to the necessity of feminism. Women attacking women and having little grasp of the importance of building together rather than tearing down prove that there exist few cohesive bonds amongst womanhood in the United States.
With 2016 drawing closer, it is entirely possible Lewinsky either wanted to undercut Hillary Clinton by reminding the public of the infidelity scandal, or attempt to get the inevitable discussion of the event out of the way before the election season. Either way, Lewinsky has brought feminism as a societal force to the public eye once more, giving every American a chance to reevaluate how the media treats women and what broader implications this has for feminism as an idea on the whole. Feminism didn’t fail Lewinsky. Feminists did.
Send your thoughts to Justine at technician-viewpoint@ncsu.edu.
