Bay State’s female pols share ‘me too’ moments
The “me too” movement, sparked this month by the Harvey Weinstein Hollywood sexual abuse scandal, has prompted a tidal wave of women nationwide bravely sharing their stories of harassment.
Many of those painful stories had been kept secret for years, even decades. Yesterday, I asked every wom- an serving in the Legislature, our congressio- nal delegation, the Boston City Council or as a consti- tutional officer if they had a “me too” story to share.
State Rep. Denise Provost, D-Somerville, one of three who shared their stories, said in an email, “Like many women, I often think of the private stories when I hear the public ones. I’m guessing that there are more ‘me too’ stories than any newspaper can report.
“One of mine that I’m willing to share is from the 1980s, when I’d only been practicing law for a few years, and was a relatively new hire in a city law department. The City Solicitor brought a city official to my office, and introduced him with fulsome praise. He then sketched out the legal problem about which the official needed advice, and left the room,” she said.
“As soon as my boss exited, the official slammed my office door shut, grabbed me tightly, trapping my arms, and kissed me hard, on my mouth, until I could struggle out of his grip. It did not feel safe to tell my boss about the unwanted attentions of this ‘pillar of the community.’ I did not feel safe — a condition which is far too widespread, for far too many people, even now.”
U.S. Sen. Eliza- beth Warren shared her “me too” story on NBC Sunday. As a young law school pro- fessor, Warren said, a senior faculty member chased her around his desk, “trying to get his hands on me.”
State Rep. Linda Campbell, a Democrat from Methuen, said, “I did experience a situation while I was in the Army . ... I really am incredibly thankful to Congresswoman Niki Tsongas, who has accomplished so much in her initiative to address this issue, which, in the military, affects men as well as women. I did have an experience while I was in the military. I’m not going to elaborate specifically on what happened but I think that it is very good that a lot of this is being (brought) forth now and that women are having the courage to do so.”
City Councilor Ayanna Pressley, a survivor of sexual violence, became emotional a few weeks ago while introducing Anita Hill at the Victim Rights Law Center gala. Pressley had watched the confirmation hearings where Hill courageously testified that she’d been sexually harassed by her boss, Clarence Thomas, then a nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Of her own “me too” experiences, Pressley said, “It’s such a conflated part of my experience as a woman, especially coming up in politics and government. Thankfully, great strides have been made but for the earliest parts of my career, beginning as an intern, I was often the only woman in many of these spaces. There were too many incidents to cite where I felt uncomfortable. The people are faceless because there’s too many. What I recall is the feeling.”
Because of the “me too” campaign, Pressley believes “young women and girls of this generation will not tolerate the harassment that my mother and myself did.”