Stogner’s education, expertise are assets worth flashing

I’m all for shattering glass ceilings, but let’s remember women have had to overcome adversity just to be acknowledged. They’ve had to tailor how they dress, temper what they say, and think long and hard before taking action.

Enter Sarah Stogner, who so deeply wants to redefine the ineffective Railroad Commission of Texas that she did something no woman — or man — has done in Lone Star State politics: She posted a five-second campaign video of herself, nearly nude, sitting on a pump jack, cowboy hat in the air.

The song “Apache” by the Sugarhill Gang played. The tone was wild. The response was mixed.

“They said I needed money (smiley face emoji). I have other assets,” she wrote in her caption.

In her campaign, Stogner has revealed uncomfortable truths about Texas oil and gas — and Texas politics and women. She gambled that the attention from her video would translate to votes, and it did. Was it worth it?

Stogner calls herself the “Legal Unicorn,” and she does have a mythical quality. She is a mom who works as an oil and gas attorney and speaks with expertise. She is a Republican who understands and acknowledges the implications of man-made climate change; a woman who is comfortable in her skin; a political novice who made the runoff by expertly using social media to share short videos explaining and showing contaminated groundwater, and taking on misogyny in the oil and gas industry.

The Express-News Editorial Board was the only major Texas newspaper to recommend her in the Republican primary. We rescinded that recommendation after the video. In her response posted to LinkedIn, she said the Editorial Board was trying to “‘slut shame’ a bold woman willing to call out the actual evil.”

On the contrary, we call out good and bad in all its nuanced forms — and Stogner’s video, although successful, was a misstep. Yet I understand why she did it.

It was difficult to see past the provocative pump jack video, or how it cast aside norms or disrupted women’s progress. In her comments online and to the Editorial Board in our second meeting, held this month, Stogner said she recorded the video clip for fun and even considered announcing her campaign with it, but realized this would be a distraction. She said she first wanted to establish her credentials as a credible and serious candidate.

While the widely shared video was surprising, the responses online were not. They ranged from disbelief and anger to raunchy and crass remarks, with plenty of “you go, girl,” sprinkled in.

A man who goes by Tim Kenner148 posted on another Stogner video that included the same footage over “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus: “Seems that some people just don’t like honesty these days. What I see is you using the same tools that women have used for a 100,000 years … And doing it honestly.”

Gross. The value of women — mothers, professionals and leaders — has always been more than their sexual appeal. Women can do anything men can do — sometimes better.

Someone with the handle trashpanda296 replied: “From a female working in oil & gas: you just knocked women in this industry down yet another notch. I wanted to vote for you. YOU need to do better. (angry face emoji)”

Stogner replied: “I’m sorry — I understand the feeling but trust me with this ... it’s not about gender or sex.”

But the video is about gender and sex — and the pursuit of votes. And that’s why it felt like a step back for women. But she’s raised powerful questions about challenging the boundaries of accepted political discourse.

When Stogner told the Editorial Board during our second meeting that she objectified her body on her own terms, she definitely gave me something to think about.

Aside from a paid app she used to edit videos, she paid zero dollars for the video. Impressive marketing, but it’s disheartening that she deemed it necessary.

Yes, Texas politics is still very much a good ol’ boy space — but plenty of women from both sides have broken through without taking off their clothes, and Stogner is strong enough to have done that, too.

Stogner’s strongest assets are her ideas (she says regulations on the books are adequate but not enforced), education (she graduated magna cum laude from Louisiana State University’s law school, according to her LinkedIn) and expertise (watch her other TikTok videos and check out her 14 years of experience helping energy-related businesses understand, mitigate, allocate and manage risk).

The Railroad Commission of Texas is misunderstood, and if Stogner is elected, she will undoubtedly help Texans understand it’s about oil and gas, not trains, and changes are needed for employee safety and our climate. She has no qualms about keeping active on TikTok. “My goal is to bring transparency,” she said.

And she should bring all of it, without the sideshow.