The tide is turning (slowly) against Hillary
Dear Hillary: I'm a Sexual Assault Survivor, and I Can't Bring Myself to Vote For You
Dear Secretary Clinton,
First, I must congratulate you on your campaign. It’s now only a matter of time until you will be named the official party nominee, and, most likely, our first female president. You have fought vigorously for this moment, and have more than earned the reward. You are, in fact, the only candidate I could see myself supporting in this election. But I can’t vote for you—not yet—and I wanted to write you today in the hope that you might better understand who I am, and why many women like me feel the same way.
I am registered Democrat. An every-election voter. A mother. A wife. An atheist. A student. A photographer. I, like all of us, am a culmination of so many things. Yet the two that define me most are “feminist” and “survivor.” These identities, for me, cannot be separated. They are intertwined in a complicated yet empowering way. I am a survivor of child molestation by a family member, and later, I became an adult survivor of rape—twice. I was date raped in 1997, and in 2013 I was drugged and raped while working as a photographer at a wedding. He was a naval officer, and I’m sure you can imagine the difficult decision I faced when contemplating whether I should press charges. Ultimately, I didn’t. I sometimes hate myself for it, but I know I wouldn’t have survived the court-martial process and the assault on my character.
On November 22nd, you tweeted, “Every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed, and supported.” You are so exactly right. According to a Stanford study, only about two percent of claims are false. Even so, we are dismissed, ridiculed, threatened, smeared, and made to feel that we are to blame. I don’t speak much of the date rape incident, but I am vocal about 2013. I, like many others, am often asked questions like, “what were you wearing?” and “how much did you have to drink?” These moments hurt, and it’s only the start of the long, painful, and embarrassing road ahead of us.
Your November tweet was moving, to say the least. However, I must ask why you continuously contributed to the problems we face. This may seem unfair, but I implore you to hear me out. Honestly, I do not blame you for your husband’s bad deeds, and I do not blame you for standing by him when his affairs with Monica Lewisnky and Paula Jones came to light during his impeachment trial. We love who we love, and you were a victim of his behavior. However, I do take issue with how you have yet to “believe and support” the multiple women who have alleged sexual misconduct and rape against Mr. Clinton.
Had this only been one accusation, I suppose you could say, “I know him too well.” I’d have understood. But we know there wasn’t just one allegation. There have been a string of accusations, and your handling of each one has shown a distinct lack of “belief and support.”
Juanita Broaddrick accused your husband of violent rape in a hotel room in 1978. Paula Jones was awarded an $850,000 settlement after accusing Mr. Clinton of sexual harassment. Kathleen Willey claims she was sexually assaulted during his first term as president. Then there’s the Monica Lewinsky affair, but we’ll get to that in a moment.
All of these women have something more in common than suffering abuse at the hands of your husband. That commonality is you, Secretary Clinton. Broaddrick wrote that you threatened her at a campaign event only weeks after the incident. When asked about this recently on the campaign trail, you called a survivor of rape “very rude.” Your instances of dismissive and/or aggressive behavior to these women became a pattern. Paula Jones was dismissed as trailer park trash by James Carville, one of your top strategists. Willey said of you, “she chooses to go after the women that he hooks up with, to ruin them again and again…”
