An article that I think covers a topic that we have been going over in class this week is “Larry Elder disclosed sexual harassment allegations on 2011 radio show, but implied one woman was too ugly for it to be true” – http://www.cnn.com/2021/09/02/politics/kfile-larry-elder-sexual-harassment-allegations/index.html
This article covers the topic of celebrities/high classifying people in our government being accursed of sexual assault / harassment. The person being accused of such allegations is Larry Elder, a Republican politician being considered a candidate in California’s recall election and also a radio show talk host. With having 20+ years of experience in the radio business, Elder has been accursed twice of sexual harassment on two separate occasions but has denied having any involvement in any of them. One accusation pertains to him encouraging a guest on his radio talk show to pull his pants down and show the tattoo that was on his butt, keeping in mind that two camerawomen were in the same room at the same time. Another accusation pertains to him claiming that it would be hard to believe House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of being sexually assaulted because of her lack of appearance and that conservative commentator Meghan McCain got her job as a T.V. host because she appeared to look like a porn star. When confronted of these allegations, Elder rejects he has done such things and even goes over and beyond to mention “The whole point behind your series of questions is, do I disrespect women, and I don’t. I have a great deal of respect for women. My mom was a woman. I had her on my show every Friday.”
When reading this article, I was quite shocked to see that someone as a “celebrity” could say these statements out loud and feel like they should not face any consequences for it. I definitely feel like the usage of Elder’s words and how he defended himself against these allegations shows the culture of our society and how the way men treat women should be confronted against. For example, when Elder was speaking of Nancy Pelosi, he mentioned: “Jay, the, the — if somebody were accused of statutory rape, the defense would be, ‘Would I rape Nancy Pelosi?’ I think that’s probably a defense.” I feel like this language severely undermines what women have to go through when coming out as being sexually assaulted because if you are not deemed as attractive by society then nobody would believe you are think of it as a big deal. But, even if you are attractive, your attractive qualities are used against you for your assault and that women use their looks for internal gain, considering what he said about Meghan McCain and how she only got her job because “she looked like a porn star”. By teaching that anyone can get assaulted no matter the appearance, specifically by gaining people more exposure who go through this issue, I feel like this can aid to more people believing women and men from all backgrounds. I also think that the handling of being accused of sexual assault should also be addressed. Elder’s defense of his accusations was that because he worked with plenty of women in his career and even had his mom feature on his show regularly, so how could he possibly disrespect women. I think that just because you are in the presence of women does not mean you get a pass in being accused of mistreating them, especially when you cannot realize how your behavior has impacted the women who are calling you out. I know that this can seem like men have to walk on eggshells to be around women, for which Elder has also mentioned in his defense, but in my opinion this is a time where women are getting tired of not being seen as people who are worthy of respect and that the behavior should just be dealt with and brushed off as something that just happens in everyday life. With not just saying this out of my own opinion, but Elder also mentioned this in a quote that shows how society dismisses women entirely when it comes down to being sexually assaulted: “Smart women simply overlook some boorish behavior by men,” he wrote. “Off-color jokes and stupid remarks may be irritating, but a smart woman deals with this”. So, you are only a smart woman if you take the hits by a man, but are misguided when you go against the man in charge.