Democrat Congresswoman Blames Sexual Assault On Women Who Appear Too Inviting

[Loyd]

Source: Mediaite

by Caleb Ecarma 11:23 am, October 19th, 2017

Every few weeks a random congressional representative will stumble out of the shadows of obscurity and make national headlines by saying something outrageously sexist, racist, or otherwise offensive its a tale as old as the 1st United States Congress.

Typically, its an old GOP congressman who will say something like [Black people] hate white people because white people are successful or perhaps theyll blame a white nationalist rally on a Obama sympathizer. However, this time, the wildly offensive comment was made by a Democratic congresswoman, who blamed victims of sexual assault on the actions of women.

In an interview with NBC5, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas weighed in on the Harvey Weinstein scandal by saying women could avoid sexual harassment if they wanted to by simply appearing less inviting.

I grew up in a time when it was as much the womans responsibility as it was a mans how you were dressed, what your behavior was, she said. Im from the old school that you can have behaviors that appear to be inviting. It can be interpreted as such.

Read more: https://www.mediaite.com/tv/democrat-congresswoman-blames-sexual-assault-on-women-who-appear-too-inviting/

---

I spent about 20 minutes asking myself if I should post this story; but then I realized that not posting would be precisely the thing a Republican would do. They love reporting on the screwups of our party, even making shit up out of thin air on many occasions, but when one of their own steps in it (a weekly--and in Trump's case daily!) occurrence, "Well, this is not the time to discuss ________." So damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!

ON EDIT: I am very much aware that the term "Democrat Party" is used as a slur by Republicans. (Remember Bob Dole talking about "Democrat Wars" in his 1976 debate with Mondale?) But, at the time I came across the story, I could find only two other websites carrying it: The Daily Caller, which is 100% right-wing, and Newsmax, which is 100% alt-right-wing. Mediaite, on the other hand, at least has some centrist writers (I'd estimate 40%).

[niyad]

1. not all women are my sisters. she is definitely on that list!!

[ExciteBike66]

2. Oh hey, you actresses whose entire career is based on your looks...

Just stop looking so damn hot, then men won't try to harass you!

Just like in certain countries where women are forced to cover themselves in public, since they might incite some poor innocent man to rape them?

[Honeycombe8]

35. Yeah, you Hollywood actresses whose livelihoods depends on being HOT....

stop look so HOT! We then won't rape you! OF course, we also won't give you a job, but that's another story.

[Deb]

3. What's her excuse for abused children? Men?

I'm old school but can smell the bs from ny.

[IronLionZion]

14. Adults have argued in court that young children seduced them

and you don't want to know what happens to men who were abused. Suicide is quite common in that demographic.

[Me.]

4. May She Be Primaried

By a Dem Woman

[Bernardo de La Paz]

19. Yes. Fossils need to be shown the door. . . . nt

[JHan]

5. WTF

[arithia]

6. .... internalized misogyny ftl

I was wearing a shirt buttoned up to the collarbone, khakis and a baggy sweater when I was assaulted by my boss. I was a legal minor. Should I have been wearing a burqa? Oh wait, that doesn't prevent sexual assault either.

This is the crap we get fed our whole lives- that we are somehow willing participants in a violent crime perpetrated against us simply because we dress/act/think a certain way. Bullshit!

Sexual assault isn't about sex- it's about power and it's abuse. It's about degrading the other person, ignoring their agency as a person and reducing them to an object that is acted upon. People are not THINGS, we have a right to say no, no matter how we are dressed, no matter what time we are walking back to our cars, no matter how far intimacy has willingly progressed up until that point.

I can't even.... gaaah!

[yagotme]

36. I totally agree:

"Sexual assault isn't about sex- it's about power and it's abuse."

This exactly.

[IronLionZion]

7. Indeed, Mayim Bialik said something very similar

like try being a smart feminist instead of pretty and no one will sexually assault you. It's all your fault. Completely ignoring the fact that tough muscular combat-trained lesbian soldiers with buzz cuts get assaulted too.

Also elderly, overweight, disabled, etc. it's all types of women who don't look "sexy" by conventional standards and certainly did not do anything to invite it.

We all choose what to focus on.

[TexasBushwhacker]

43. People ripped her a new one too n/t

[Stonepounder]

8. You know, I've been around since the 40's.

I've seen any number of extremely attractive, provocatively dressed and/or scantily clothed women. And yes, I have fantasized about getting some of them into bed. However, I have never had the slightest urge harass, assault, or otherwise try and force myself onto a woman or act on those fantasies.

To blame your criminal behavior toward a woman on the woman is about as lousy an excuse as saying that your robbed a bank because they had 'all that money' and you couldn't help myself and they shouldn't have been displaying it. Men, if you can't take responsibility for your own actions, then you are a wimp, a loser, and no kind of man that I ever want to associate with!

[hlthe2b]

9. How many of us heard this growing up unil we grew up to see through this bullshit?

I'm guessing some are eternally a product of environment, upbringing or ignorance...

[marybourg]

10. Writing "Democrat" Congresswoman rather than

"Democratic" Congresswoman is an indication that the media being quoted is hard right wing. On DU it should be put in quotes, since it is NOT the name of the party and is considered a slur. If not a direct quote from the article, then it means that a poster is reading and listening to right-wing media, rather than mainstream media. And probably need some re-education before posting on DU.

I don't know which is the case here, but it's one or the other.

[Loyd]

17. I noticed that too

And indeed, Mediate does have some right-wing writers. Actually, that's partly why I didn't edit the title.

[7962]

23. In your defense, according to the rules you CANT alter the actual title. nt

[marybourg]

26. This is true. I didn't realize this was

LBN. If it were me, I would have put either the word "Democrat" in quotes or the whole headline in quotes, but it's not fair to expect that of other people if the rules don't require it.

[Bradshaw3]

29. Nonetheless it was a good catch

I saw that too and was going to post until I saw yours.

[Loyd]

40. Thanks, 7962!

[mercuryblues]

11. There are people

who refuse to understand. She is one of them.

No lady, in the old days women were told to shut up about it. We refuse to be quiet anymore.

[TheDebbieDee]

12. I become immediately suspicious that bias is involved when any publication uses

Democrat Congressman or Democrat Senator as opposed to Democratic Congressman or Democratic Senator...

[matt819]

15. "I grew up in a time. . . "

Bullshit.

Okay, so Eddie Bernice there is 81. She has some 20 years on me. But I'm sorry, the "earlier time" gambit is BS.

It's BS for Harvey Weinstein and it's BS for Rep. Johnson.

I grew up in the era of miniskirts and bra burning. And I knew that however much I might have been attracted to a braless woman wearing a miniskirt, I didn't have a right to rape her, as Harvey Weinstein would have us believe was his due because of when he came of age. Bullshit. And those women had a right to dress as they wished and had an equal right not to be raped, which Rep. Johnson seems to disagree with. And you know something, as scandalous as risque apparel might have been in Rep. Johnson's youth, those same principles applied. Growing up in the 30s and 40s, my mother, however she dressed, expected that she had a right to do so without being assaulted. And my father had the good sense not to rape a woman because of how she dressed. These are basic principles of decent human behavior. And violators of these principles - and of the law - are what we call criminals, whatever era they grew up in and whatever the woman might have been wearing.

[marybourg]

34. In all fairness, I have to point out that your mother would have worn a hat, white gloves

a long skirt and stockings to go out in public, even just to go shopping or to the dentist in the 30's, 40's and 50's. She would hardly have had the option to do otherwise. Nor, in all likelihood, the desire. I grew up in the most progressive city in the country and this is how women dressed, expected to dress, and expected other women - unless they were actual prostitutes- to dress.

The 60's and 70's brought about a true revolution in the way Americans thought, dressed, and thought about dressing. Most of us are happy with a change to more casual, comfortable and less restrictive - and restricting - clothing, but I certainly also understand the sister's skepticism (and she's several years older than me) about those who dress in a way that seems to some of us to be not casual, comfortable or even pleasantly androgynous, but deliberately, flauntingly, provocative.

It may be their right to do so in the current social climate, and it may look "normal" to our juniors, and mostly we elder ladies keep our mouths shut about it, but we do have our own gauge on which to measure appropriateness. But not to worry - we'll be gone soon, and the next generation will have their chance to abhor the behavior of the young.

[brush]

16. Poor woman. My first thought was it's time for her to step down. My second one is...

the voters will take care of that.

[George II]

18. I stopped reading at "Democrat Congresswoman"

[happy feet]

22. Me too

[IronLionZion]

20. She grew up in the segregated South

and was " the first African-American Chief Psychiatric Nurse at the Dallas Veterans Administration Hospital".

Of all people, she should know that times have changed and progress comes through fighting through bullshit set up by people longing for the old ways.

I really hope she was encouraging victims to speak up and hold their abusers accountable. But I'm not so sure.

“because they are allowed to get away with it by the women.”

[HelenWheels]

21. She shames the nursing profession

I am a nurse and am embarrassed by her.

[csziggy]

46. That might be the key to her comments

African American women, especially those who had professions, held themselves to very high standards.

In the book Hidden Figures there is a passage about this. I can't find my copy at the moment to copy the section here, but the author made a point about this.

[elias7]

24. That we can be so brutal to her shows us how far we've come

It's very easier to be condescending to an idea or concept that has grown obsolete, become a provincial relic of an earlier time. I think that if you need to harshly judge those who internalized such things and are not as "evolved" as us contemporary folks, so be it. I believe that the truly evolved person, however, can appreciate that in several decades, they may find themselves in precisely the opposite position.

[Squinch]

25. There is no law that says we need to keep hitting ourselves in the head with a hammer.

As the article points out, every week or two some asshole comes out of the woodwork and says something asinine. And it is usually a Republican.

When it is a completely obscure Democrat, there is no reason for us to be the ones who spread the story around and give people reasons to hate us. If articles like this were not shared on Democratic venues, they would be shared half the time (or less), and Democrats would not seem as if they were rife with assholes. Because we are not. She is an aberration. There is no reason for us to publicize her views.

This adds nothing to any conversation.

[samnsara]

27. isnt that why women are made to cover up in 3rd world countries?

..shes also saying that men cant control themselves?

[TexasBushwhacker]

44. Yes, and they still get raped

Then, in some cases, they are made to marry their rapist. In other cases, they are blamed and punished, even killed.

[lagomorph777]

28. "Democrat Congresswoman"? The use of "Democrat" in this form is a GOP slur.

Makes me suspicious about the source.

[onecaliberal]

30. For fucks sake

[TygrBright]

31. Oh, FFS, Mediaite. It's "Democratic" or if you really wanna save chars, "Dem." n/t

[Judi Lynn]

32. Thanks for taking a moment to wonder about motives in posting a story like this.

I did that hours ago before coming to the conclusion this older lady undoubtedly has had life experiences which molded her beliefs and I don't want to hold her up to ridicule when there's much more important information pressing for attention.

Hating women, and hating black women is standard for Republicans hoping to find some way to make any woman with views which might generate hostility look bad.

Claiming wanting to do the "moral" thing can play out in any number of ways.

[Bradical79]

33. Get primaried or retire

I'm ok with either one.

[Honeycombe8]

37. If she's that unaware of the world, she needs to go. nt

[Honeycombe8]

38. If ONLY I'd KNOWN! All I have to do to never get assaulted, groped, propositioned, or raped...

is to simply wear a conservative dress, I would've done that years ago! I guess all those women before 1965 were NEVER groped or propositioned or raped. And that once I reach a certain age, all that worry is GONE FOREVER, because older women are never groped or raped, right?

Question: Do they make burkas in aqua?

[Marie Marie]

39. Sigh! Once again:

Rape and sexual assault are not about sex. They are violent crimes of power and domination that happen to use sex as a weapon.

[Solly Mack]

41. Fuck that ignorance.

[delisen]

42. Irony. We let men who can't control themselves

run the country because women are supposedly too emotional.

[Pugster]

47. Welcome to DU

Usually at call them "Democratic congressmen" or democratic congresswomen".
Republicans prefer the term "Democrat" as an adjective.