"I'm leaving because of a misogynistic culture that gleefully consumed my naked pictures, ..."

[demmiblue]

Katie Hill on her resignation: "I am leaving now because of a double standard."

"I'm leaving because of a misogynistic culture that gleefully consumed my naked pictures, capitalized on my sexuality and enabled my abusive ex to continue that abuse." http://abcn.ws/2PAIELM

Link to tweet

[demmiblue]

1. Full Speech:

Link to tweet

[Tiggeroshii]

18. She is my congresswoman

I knocked doors for her. I will proudly do it again when the time comes.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Hope she makes a good lawsuit out of it

[blm]

26. ✔️

[yaesu]

3. I wish the Speaker would decline her resignation

She was abused and she is being punished for it, this make me mad as hell.

[Loge23]

4. Totally agree

We MUST get tougher. We have a criminal syndicate in the WH and we're resigning over this??
Both Franken and now Hill are being shamed over nothing. It's a disgrace.

[FakeNoose]

5. +1000

I think this is a perfect example of the double standard that's been applied towards women - especially Democratic women - in Congress. Nancy Pelosi can still speak out on Katie Hill's behalf, and I hope she does.

[Stargazer09]

10. Agreed

I understand that she probably doesn’t want to face the slobbering GOP men who are studying her photos in minute detail, but I hate that she’s leaving.

Plus, it sounds like this was a set up.

[NewJeffCT]

12. I hope she can prosecute

isn't Revenge Porn illegal in California?

[barbtries]

17. reportedly they had hundreds more.

she would have had no peace. My take is she is resigning to save her peace of mind and try to get a life back, not because she was exploited by terrible men. and not because she had an inappropriate relationship with a staffer.
i begged Al Franken not to resign, but I think it's asking a hell of a lot of Katie Hill to open herself up to so much abuse.

[Jose Garcia]

50. Who do you think pressured her to resign?

[Hortensis]

6. No, she resigned because of allegations of malfeasance and

unethical conduct as a congresswoman that she apparently can't prove wrong. She admitted one, denied the other, but resigned instead of undergoing house ethics investigation.

The pix are an embarrassment and smear.

[eissa]

11. This

It's not the photos -- everyone recognizes she's the victim concerning those.

It's fucking staffers, and consensual or not, there are House rules against it. While I'm angered that she resigned over something other people seem to get a pass on, I'm more angry that we now have to fight to save a seat we barely managed to flip.

[Hortensis]

13. Yes, and I'm angry with her for that. I was an admirer

who truly never suspected she was the sort who could fail us like this, not with impressive leaders bringing her along.

"But others get away with it" isn't a standard, and I'm sorry to hear her underlining the issue with that complaint instead of leaving with dignity. The "one standard for all" thing is about holding everyone up to it, not letting the lowest denominators all decide what that'll be.

Oh, well.

[BigMin28]

31. Yet Duncan Hunter hasn't resigned

One of his many affairs was with a staffer.

[eissa]

35. "Everybody does it"

does not give her pass. Just because they don’t have standards doesn’t mean we shouldn’t live up to ours. We either abide by the ethics rules we establish, or we ignore them the way they do.

[treestar]

40. Maybe it should not be a standard

that is, if the Rs get away with it, is it really a cultural standard?

[BigMin28]

42. I didn't mean to imply that we give her a pass

But if others violate those same rules, why are the rules not enforced? Or are they just suggestions that only our side, the Democrats, must abide by?

Same goes for laws. The wealthy and well connected seem to live by a different set of laws than the rest of us. They rarely do any time when convicted, and rarely seem to have to pay restitution for those violations that are anywhere near what was stolen. Case in point...I believe if Bernie Madoff had not stolen from the wealthy, he wouldn't have had all his money taken in forfeiture. And quite possibly would have received a lesser sentence.

[Dorian Gray]

37. Duncan Hunter is a scumbag whom

I assume you don't want sitting in office. So, yeah.

Kate Hill's actions were problematic. She's a victim of revenge porn, for sure, and I hope she sues the shit out of the people who released her photos. And wins.

But potentially abused her position and chose to resign rather than suffer through an investigation and hearings about it. Could be bc she was pressured by leadership. But there is a reason why.

I hope the district stays blue.

Politicians need to do better.

[AtheistCrusader]

46. Agreed, and she shouldn't resign over it.

Let the ethics investigation run, take whatever censure comes from it, and mush on. This is not that big of a deal.

[Zambero]

45. Meanwhile, grifter Duncan Hunter R-CA continues his "normalization" campaign

In stark contrast with Katie Hill, who was willing to resign for far less in the way of wrongdoing.

[whopis01]

48. There are no House rules against what she has admitted to

and the other allegations, which are being made by her ex-husband, have not been substantiated.

The House Rule reads:

"A Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner may not engage in a sexual relationship with any employee of the House who works under the supervision of the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner, or who is an employee of a committee on which the Member, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner serves. This paragraph does not apply with respect to any relationship between two people who are married to each other."

She admitted to an affair with a female campaign staffer. The staffer was not an "employee of the House", and this rule does not apply to that relationship.


Katie Hill's ex-husband has accused her of having an affair with a male House staff member. Katie Hill has denied this relationship and the staffer (her legislative director) has not confirmed it. The only person claiming it is her ex-husband.

In order to conclude that she broke House rules, you would have to take her ex-husband's word over hers.

[IronLionZion]

14. If there weren't photos, she could have done the ethics investigation

and maybe come out ahead to salvage her career.

The photos publicly humiliated her and damaged her standing in the eyes of her constituents, and that forced her to resign.

She's a victim of the photos and her abusive ex, but she's guilty of sex with subordinates whether it was during the campaign or hiring them later as staffers.

Lots of people make mistakes and are then victimized by a cruel and vindictive culture with punishments that far outweigh their crimes.

[Hortensis]

15. But no: The photos were NOT the ethical issue she resigned for.

She resigned as a result of her own actions AT WORK. Without the photos, perhaps her own actions at work wouldn't have become been officially noticed to the point that they had to be addressed so definitively, but they would still have been every bit as questionable.

If they could have been swept under the rug, at very least someone would have had to have a good talk with her. Like the chairs of the committees she was on, Nancy Pelosi or top assistant, and/or her mentors, all of whom she very badly let down.

Democrats aren't perfect, but we're NOT Republicans by a long shot. Things are different in our party.

Speaking of, this time our house Democratic caucus of 235 has 89 women, an all-time high. So yes, the old, official standard for men will be more enforced -- for all. That comes with having women in power.

(Meantime, the White Man's Party has been driving women OUT. Women's influence and standards, already almost nonexistent, are disappearing over there. Their house caucus is down to 13 from 23 last time, and their 13 are bitter at how they're being treated.)

[IronLionZion]

24. Dem leadership could have reprimanded her for the ethics violation

and punished her however the rules require, and then she could settle it with her staff and constituents. There's a chance she could finish out her term and let the voters decide next November. That option would also leave our party enough time to field a new candidate if she were asked to step down or be primaried.

The public humiliation is what loses votes and ruins a career so quickly and decisively to leave an open seat in a swing district. GOP could take it. They're already claiming Dems are involved in all sorts of nasty stuff. Smears work in politics.

The court of public opinion decided this one.

[Hortensis]

36. Didn't it happen far too fast for court of public opinion, tho?

She resigned very quickly when the ceiling fell in on her -- i.e., the revelation of improper workplace affair(s) with underlings. That made it impossible for the Democratic leadership to just denounce everything else as contemptible personal attacks and move on.

The Year of the Women that swept her into office marked women's equality and right to elective office, and that means equal responsibilities also.

And #MeToo was about putting an end to institutionalized protections of powerful people over underlings. We have to uphold the standard for all in asymmetrical power relationships, not just men. And it's not as if that standard itself is new, made up just for her; it and the principles it's based on are very, very, very old.

Just imagine if we'd taken a stand that it was okay for her because she's a woman and thus different. That hypocritical winking at principle would not have fared well in the court of public opinion and potentially done real harm to the cause.

[yaesu]

16. Yep, those photo's have been weaponized against her, she is a victim & nothing posted

here or anywhere will change my mind but I've have used my right to place those who do fault her on my ignore list.

[Hortensis]

22. Add me then, but please don't. Same standard for everyone.

I'm assuming a Republican candidate and then congressman having affairs with relatively very vulnerable underlings, whose hopeful careers could depend on maintaining a very good relationship with him (and probably be affected in some way no matter what), would not get a pass from most here. THAT's why she resigned. Note that behaviors that merely raise a question of possible ethical lapses are violations of standards, unethical all by themselves.

She self victimized. These standards aren't just for Republican men in office and business. She really was supposed to behave ethically and didn't.

[Aaron Pereira]

20. Unfortunately that's true.

Hill's situation was going to be a convenient ongoing distraction for Republicans during impeachment. I think we may find out later the speaker recommended her resignation.

[RestoreAmerica2020]

7. Why should she resign? We have a sexual predator in WH--so hell no !

She should defend her seat; as Franken should have defended his. And, yes Speaker Pelosi should not accept her resignation.

[McKim]

8. I Hope She Reconsiders!

She should not have resigned! If this were a man things would be so different. Some might even had admired him for having a titillating past. She is in a way victimizing herself all over again. But I can empathize with the feelings of humiliation as a woman. Why even our First “Lady” has had nude pictures of herself published. What a sad affair. I hope she changes her mind.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

9. I'm not in her shoes and I don't know what she knows

Wish she hadn't resigned until going through due process, but it is her decision to make. I don't walk in her shoes and she damn sure knows a lot more about it than I do.

[cwydro]

19. Well, she's giving them what they want.

I didn’t figure her for a quitter.

She shouldn’t have resigned.

[OnDoutside]

23. +1

[mtngirl47]

21. I guess I'm old....I don't understand the naked picture thing.

Why take them? Were they on a phone? Were they sent thru email?

It's kind of like tatooing someones name on your body....you hope the relationship lasts, but what if it doesn't? Why let someone have naked pictures of you on their phone or computer--you hope the relationship lasts, but what if it doesn't?

When you're running for congress why are you having threesomes with a staffer and your husband, and taking pictures of it?

Just my two cents.

[IronLionZion]

25. She said it was without her knowledge or consent

in her speech she said a blackmailer online claimed they would keep releasing more

[Kaleva]

27. She's looking right at the camera while nude and holding a bong in one of the pics.

You can go to Daily Mail to see them.

[SharonAnn]

32. If a camera was installed surreptiously, she probably didn't see it.

She could’ve been looking in that direction and still didn’t see it.

[Kaleva]

34. Possible

[IronLionZion]

33. Everyone has a camera on their phone these days

it can happen quick enough that you won't know until it's too late. When someone has their phone out you don't know if they are using an app or taking a photo if you don't see their screen.

[cwydro]

43. Yeah, I saw a few of them.

She looked fully aware of a camera.

[Kaleva]

44. I got the impression that she was fully aware that pics were being taken of her.

But that's just the impression I got.

[cwydro]

47. Yeah, me too.

She did some stupid stuff for a smart woman.

[whopis01]

49. She only claimed that some of them were taken without her knowledge.

Not all of them.

The first time she talked about it, she specifically referred to the picture of her brushing her staffer's hair. Neither person is looking at the camera in that pic.

[bdamomma]

28. and we have two

assaulters one in WH and one on the SC.

Sickening.


We will rise.

[7wo7rees]

29. AOC said the crime was committed against her

"I don't think we're really talking about how targeted and serious this is," Ocasio-Cortez told Politico. "We're talking about a major crime ... being committed against her."

https://news.yahoo.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-says-revenge-143642245.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

30. An interesting take on this kind of situation:

Former U.S. Rep. Katie Hill, a Democrat from California, resigned this week amid personal scandal. Few women in America can understand what she is going through.

I am one of those women.

On Dec. 15, 2011, I was racing home from St. Paul as four of my fellow Republican state senators, all male, held a news conference. I called my sister to ask her to meet my 15-year-old daughter at the bus stop. I wasn’t sure whether media would be waiting at home. I walked into the living room to find my daughter slumped on the sofa, tears running down her face. She asked just one question: “Why?”

I was given no warning about the news conference that would change the trajectory of my life. The subject of the news conference was my extramarital affair with our caucus communications director. In what was later dubbed “The Scarlet Letter Award Ceremony,” excruciating details were discussed about my personal life. No evidence was provided, but that didn’t matter.

The rest here: http://www.startribune.com/few-know-what-it-s-like-to-be-a-rising-woman-like-katie-hill-brought-down-by-private-scandal/564128182/

[IronLionZion]

38. Amy Koch apologized and finished out her term

good points in that piece about the similarities to Katie Hill, but also the differences in that there wasn't pictures or public shaming.

[Mr. Ected]

39. There's another double standard being applied here

The standard that Democrats apply to themselves versus the standards the Republicans apply to themselves.

Since we're guided by a moral code, when it's even perceived that a Dem has breached that code, whether justified or not, we martyr ourselves in the name of honesty and integrity as a whole.

When the Republicans are perceived to have breached a code, they deny the offense and they deny the code.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

41. Mostly by so called God fearing xtians