Women's rights PAC asks candidates seeking endorsements to air sex harassment accusations
By Stephanie Ebbert GLOBE STAFF MAY 29, 2018
Candidates who hope to win the endorsement of a leading Massachusetts womens rights group this election cycle should be prepared to answer this question: Have you ever been formally accused of sexual harassment? If so, please explain.
The provocative query appears on a questionnaire circulating among state candidates thats believed to be the first instance nationally in which an interest group is demanding such disclosures as a condition of its endorsement.
I think our biggest hope is to help elevate the conversation about sexual harassment and make clear that one of the values of reproductive freedom is being free from harassment in the workplace, said Rebecca Hart Holder, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, whose political action committee produced the questionnaire. As uncomfortable as it can be to have these conversations, I think theyre really critical to advancing womens role in society and also in politics.
The questionnaire shows how much the political discourse has changed since the 2016 presidential election, and how much further womens rights groups hope to push it in the #MeToo era. Eighteen months ago, voters sent Donald Trump to the Oval Office, dismissing his hot-mike bragging about grabbing and kissing women. But in the seven months since a wave of women began divulging their stories of being sexually assaulted or harassed, the commonality of their experience has driven men out of positions of power. The language used by NARAL makes it clear that the movement is far from over.
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https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/05/29/women-rights-pac-asks-candidates-seeking-endorsements-air-sex-harassment-accusations/xvxXxaQymjwYZ2ozATaEfM/story.html