Gillibrand’s hypocrisy

Many have been quick to praise Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-N.Y.) feminist courage for speaking out against sexual harassment in her book Off the Sidelines. Ariana Huffington touts the book as a “handbook for the next generation” – valid praise if the next generation is looking for lessons on unabashed hypocrisy and opportunism. While she is quick to single out instances of victimization, she is perversely inconsistent in her treatment of the litany of degrading comments from her alleged harassers, male congressman. She urges women not to tolerate sex assault of any form, but offers excuses for the conduct of her own colleagues when it is politically expedient.

In an interview with People Magazine, she notes: “It was all statements that were being made by men who were well into their 60s, 70s or 80s. They had no clue that those are inappropriate things to say to a pregnant woman or a woman who just had a baby or to women in general.” Gillibrand also concedes that “Harry was just trying to be nice,” when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) called her “the hottest member” of the Senate. The comments should call her scruples into question, but instead they garner praise. Ruth Marcus, a columnist for the Washington Post, excused Gillibrand’s response to Reid by saying she was “being nice.”

{mosads}Gillibrand brings attention to a worthy cause, but it doesn’t necessarily place her above reproach. The media, politicians, and the general public should not be apprehensive about calling her out on her fallacies. Due to a culture of political fear-mongering, the inability to disassociate the person from the cause is so pervasive that people do not want to criticize Gillibrand for fear of looking like they condone sexual assault. In her column “Sexism in the Senate,” Marcus blasts two reporters from Politico and The New York Times for questioning Gillibrand’s story and demanding she name names. She further notes that if anyone doubts Gillibrand’s integrity, he “must be a man.” The irony of such a sexist statement in an article about sexism is plain astounding. And it’s also wrong – I’m a woman and I take umbrage with it.

Gillibrand falls short of her own advice to women. But she beats a loud drum within the government, creating such a discord that it impedes fair and proper sexual assault investigations and prosecutions because leaders are far too concerned with perceptions than with doing the right thing. Should a victim really question if the actions of his or her aggressor were in keeping with his age and/or generational outlook? Would that make the aggressor somehow less accountable? Moreover, would I readily be a victim if I wrongfully and knowingly accused someone I personally disliked of sexual assault? Or could I rely on a weak system predicated on compliance with congress rather than law and justice to exonerate me?

Institutions are now administering punishments with haste and severity without fully investigating claims because of congressional pressure on sexual assault prosecution. Gillibrand’s heavy-handedness has ushered in a witch-hunt within the Department of Defense and college campuses across America. While she demands accountability of others, she makes convenient concessions for the actions of her male colleagues. That is not okay. It is not okay to apply double standards to something as critical as sexual harassment and assault. It is not okay to compromise fairness and justice for all. It is not okay to empower one set of voices while silencing others. It is always best to do the right thing no matter what. That is real courage, not just a cloak for expediency and ambition.

Politics and hypocrisy may be inextricable, but there is a limit and a line. Gillibrand’s book website hails her as the “daughter and granddaughter of two trailblazing feminists, and as “the tough-love older sister and cheerleader every woman needs.” Not me, thank you. I, too, am the daughter and granddaughter of feminists (from Afghanistan, no less, and to include my father) and a tough-love older sister. But the values with which I was raised were far simpler than Washington politics: to speak honestly, act kindly, and stand up for my beliefs.   

Zafar is a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at the University of Oxford.