Sexual Exploitation

Washington, D.C. — Penny Young Nance, the CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, issued the following statement following the Senate passage of H.R. 1865, the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA). The legislation now heads to the president’s desk: 

“Yesterday the Senate made crucial strides to curtail the gruesome practice of selling human beings online, a practice our laws were never meant to enable. Once the president signs FOSTA, survivors and law enforcement will have new tools available to hold bad actor websites that are knowingly participating in sex trafficking accountable.

 “While the Internet has given us so much good, Congress could not have foreseen the depravity and exploitation that it has caused, and if they could have, they certainly would have never condoned this behavior. The laws put in place to foster innovation were never meant to enable sex trafficking. This concept is so obvious; it is absurd that we even had to clarify it.

 “This is a victory for law enforcement officers who are working relentlessly to combat sex trafficking in their communities. This is a victory for prosecutors and the 50 state attorneys general who support FOSTA and who have asked for better tools and resources so that they can better prosecute those involved in sex trafficking. Perhaps most importantly, this is a victory for victims who have encountered substantial obstacles while trying to achieve justice against those found complicit in their trafficking.

“I applaud the tireless work of Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Missouri) and her staff who have worked on the federal, state, and local level to preserve the freedom of the Internet while holding bad actor websites accountable. I also applaud Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), House and Senate leadership, and all those involved in making this legislation stronger and moving it forward.”

Aspiring actresses and Hollywood career women may have cheered when they heard Show Biz execs tapped Anita Hill to lead a sexual harassment commission examining issues of sexual misconduct and inequality in the entertainment industry.  As a former victim of an actual physical attack and attempted rape over 20 years ago, all I can say is, “I wish this was truly a win for women.”

Besides the obvious problem of Hollywood big wigs choosing to politicize this problem, the deeper issue is that Ms. Hill is not the advocate for whom women are looking, especially in an industry that is led by many clearly hypocritical men.  The women of Hollywood may have grown up learning about Anita Hill as a heroine, but as we’ve come – all too painfully – to learn, academia and media have painted a picture of her over the past quarter century that is conveniently divorced from reality.

Ms. Hill had the chance to stand up for numerous women who were being sexually mistreated by a powerful man. Instead she chose to defend that man and cast doubt on his accusers.  So much for every woman deserving to be believed.

During President Bill Clinton’s sexual misconduct scandals, Ms. Hill was interviewed by Tim Russert and Gwen Ifill of NBC News on Meet the Press.  They asked her directly about accusations made by Kathleen Willey, Paula Jones, and others. Her reaction would cause a great deal of shock today, and the women of entertainment need to know what she said then, because it affects how much confidence they should invest in her now.

Kathleen Willey, once an enthusiastic fundraiser for, and supporter of, Bill Clinton’s successful presidential campaigns, came to see him in the Oval Office. She was in financial trouble.  He chose this moment to assault her.  When asked about Willey’s accusations on Meet the Press, Ms. Hill dismissed them.

“We don’t have Ms. Willey claiming that this behavior was severe and ongoing, or pervasive enough that it became a condition of her employment. She’s not making that claim at all. And, in fact, no one has made that claim. She says in the deposition, I believe, that she was not given any particular favor at the White House because of this incident nor could she say that she suffered any disadvantage because of this incident.”

Russert pushed: “So, do we dismiss the president’s alleged behavior … because he backed off when he was told ‘no?’ It’s acceptable.”

Hill: “Well I’m not sure. I think that we have to evaluate it not on the basis of whether it’s sexual harassment, but evaluate it on the basis of what we would like to see in terms of the behavior and the moral decisions and judgments of the president.”

She then inexplicably launched into the “they all do it” defense, citing Presidents Kennedy and Johnson among others.

“I think the American public has heard so much about the sexual activities and the sex lives of these individuals, and we’ve sort of become cynical and said, ‘Well, if he did it, maybe that’s OK; they all do it.”

If you’re a woman in the entertainment industry – or any victim of sexual misconduct or physical assault – and you’re watching this or reading the transcript, it does not inspire confidence.  Quite the opposite, especially in light of the revelations about Harvey Weinstein and others.

Hill kept going and even more inexplicably compounded the “they all do it” defense with the now unfathomable double-standard reasoning that President Clinton should get a pass because … he’s a liberal and supports so-called “women’s issues.”  Sound familiar?

This is utterly ridiculous given today’s revelations. Before he was outed as a predator, Harvey Weinstein took a back seat to no one as a liberal advocate on what Hill referred to as “women’s issues generally.”

When Ms. Hill had the opportunity to step up and defend the powerless against the most powerful man in the world, her instinct was to defend him, because his politics happened to be liberal. Well, it’ll come as no shock to every woman in Hollywood that their town is replete with countless powerful men whose politics just happen to be liberal.

It doesn’t take a great intellectual leap to posit this is why, in all their insecurity (and condescension), the Hollywood moguls picked her to lead the commission in the first place.  If these leaders truly care about the women in their industry, they’ll find someone way better to lead this effort than Anita Hill.  As it stands, with Anita Hill at the helm, this effort must be viewed as unserious.

Editor’s Note: A version of this article was published by USA Today. Click here to read it.

Another one bites the dust – this time, “Today Show” host Matt Lauer, whose firing for “inappropriate sexual behavior” in the workplace was announced Wednesday morning. This comes only a week after rival morning show host Charlie Rose of CBS was fired for the same thing.

News reports indicate this is merely the beginning for women who have bided their time, suffered in silence and dealt with sexual harassment or worse in the workplace for decades. Now they are coming forward to finally obtain justice

Matt Lauer is only the latest to be fired from his high-profile job in recent weeks in Hollywood, the news media and elsewhere.

These men were in powerful positions, as were most of the men who have been outed for their gross mistreatment of women.  Predators prey on the weak, not the strong. The cockroaches scatter when the cleansing light illuminates darkness.

NBC, CBS, PBS, Netflix, Nickelodeon, Amazon Studios, Harrah’s New Orleans Casino, MSNBC, ABC, NPR, Fox News and Vox Media are just some of the companies that have moved swiftly to terminate relationships or positions where powerful men were accused of behaving badly towards women (or men, in the case of Netflix and Kevin Spacey).

But what about the U.S. Congress?

The Associated Press reports that “Congress has paid out more than $17 million in taxpayer money over the last 20 years to resolve claims of sexual harassment, overtime pay disputes and other workplace violations filed by employees of Congress.” There were 264 settlements and awards, but the Office of Compliance in Congress did not release a breakdown showing how many involved alleged sexual misconduct, the AP reported.

According to the law that created the slush fund, accusers must go through 90 days of dispute resolution, including counseling.

This is an atrocity and the names of members of Congress reaching settlements need to be released immediately. Congressional leaders can put their members through sexual harassment training all they want, but taxpayers deserve to know who exactly they have been covering for all these years and, further, we deserve restitution.

Who have the American taxpayers been protecting all these years?

Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.,  has been credibly accused of sexual harassment, yet he is still in power. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., was pictured with his hands over the breasts of a sleeping woman. He gave a half-baked apology this week, and he has no intention of giving up his seat.

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,  called Rep. Conyers an “icon” this past Sunday on “Meet the Press” on NBC and had to quickly backtrack her remarks after realizing they were terrible.

But Pelosi is used to defending men who are Democrats and were caught in compromising positions: These are former Reps. David Wu of Oregon, Eric Massa of New York and Anthony Weiner  of New York, plus former San Diego mayor Bob Filner, and the late Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, was in a consensual relationship but deserves a mention for the stupidity for appearing in nude photos.

Even when an ultra-feminist is in charge of her party in Congress, victims didn’t get a fair shake.  Professor Jonathan Turley calls this “transactional ethics,” meaning each party protecting their own. That’s just depressing.

We are still waiting.

Congress should follow the lead of the private sector. Transparency is necessary. The American people can mete out justice at the voting booth if we are told the truth.

How many more women need to come forward to tell their stories before Congress will act?

Early on in my career, I briefly had a despicable boss who tried to manipulate me into a relationship with him. I found him repugnant but tried to politely avoid his unseemly attention and advances. I would come home and cry at night because of the things he said and the way he behaved.  He knew that he could get away with making my life miserable on a daily basis and that my career would be in jeopardy if I ever sued for sexual harassment. I eventually quit a job I needed because of him. Thankfully, I was able to find another job, but I should not have had to look.

Apparently, I am not alone. Actress Alyssa Milano asked women who have been sexually harassed or worse, assaulted, to take to their social media pages with the hashtag, #MeToo. Twitter has reported that the hashtag has been tweeted over half-a-million times. I’ve seen friends on Facebook use the hashtag as well − women I’ve known for years but had no knowledge that they were part of this awful club.

Some of the women I saw post are much older than me, but why should that surprise me? Sexual harassment has been an issue since women entered the workforce.

According to a 2015 survey from Cosmopolitan magazine, one-in-three women have experienced sexual harassment or assault in the workplace, and 71 percent did not report it. And why would they? Stats from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) report that over half of claims are found to have resulted in no charges. The risk of losing their jobs or being blackballed in their industry are just too high.

Hollywood in all its excesses is, of course, the perfect incubator for the worst in human behavior. The Harvey Weinstein story is just the tip of the iceberg.  It’s my hope that Hollywood’s Pandora’s Box is open, because of the brave women who have come forward to tell their stories. Yet it’s not only the women who have suffered at the hands of powerful men.

Child actor Corey Feldman has courageously spoken out against the culture of pedophilia in Hollywood. He said it wasn’t only him, that his friend Corey Haim was raped as a child. Yet, while he wouldn’t “name names,” he maintains that one of his attackers is a prominent person who still works in the Hollywood business today. This is only the beginning of the offenses in the entertainment industry. I hope Corey starts naming names soon.

Sadly, this is one of those rare issues in which people of every political ilk can find common ground. This issue is not about liberals or conservatives, race or religion. It’s about something deeper and more primal. This is about our sinful human nature left unchecked and given over to evil. Man (and Woman) is fallen and in need of redemption.  If we every doubted our need of a Savior for our souls, all we have to do is look in our Facebook feed.  #MeToo

Watching the pitiful story of Harvey Weinstein unfold has been horrifying. The raw power the man wielded over those whom he had authority was surreal. The very fact that he sexually assaulted and possibly raped dozens and dozens of women over decades is almost unbelievable, but the reports surfacing all over the place claim that Weinstein’s actions were an open secret.

Yet because of his position of power over women — even very successful women — he was never held accountable for his crimes.

And still he groped women; he forced them into unwanted sexual situations, and he abused his position of power to degrees that are probably still unknown.

The kicker in this story is that Weinstein cavorted at award shows, fancy dinners, and big fundraisers with the very women he assaulted. He walked with feministsat the Women’s March in January in Park City, Utah. He donated $100,000 to Planned Parenthood last year. He raised millions of dollars for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

He not only paid off the women he assaulted in exchange for this silence, but he paid off, in the way of substantial monetary support, pro-abortion organizations, the Democratic political party, and candidates who have branded themselves as advocates of women.

Liberal women have been told for ages that Planned Parenthood has their backs, that Hillary Clinton would fight for them and their rights, and that the Democratic Party is the only party that will protect women, that cares for them with no judgement.

But where were all of these high-profile people when the Weinstein story broke?

Hillary Clinton took days to respond. The Obamas also took several days to release a statement. Both statements said nothing about the hundreds of thousands of dollars raised for their campaigns by the movie mogul. The Democratic National Committee announced they are only donating a small portion of Weinstein’s contributions — to groups that help elect Democrats and pro-choice women to office.

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, has been silent. Women’s March leaders have been tepid in their response.

Feminists have sought for years to break free from the grip of powerful men who take advantage of them, unfairly abuse their control, create impossible hurdles for women to clear to become successful, and then act like everything is all unicorns and rainbows.

Speakers at the Women’s March in January were angry. Ashley Judd, the first celebrity to go on record accusing Harvey Weinstein of gross sexual harassment, was a featured speaker at the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., and she was furious as she read a speech written by a 19-year-old titled “Nasty Woman,” a reference to a line from President Trump.

Liberal feminists put their trust in the very people who covered up criminal actions committed by powerful men over and over again. They were betrayed by a political party that put power over all else.

They were so angry over even the mere thought of paying for their own birth control that they trusted an abortion giant to protect them, one that claimed they aren’t even political, and yet took a ton of money from Harvey Weinstein and threw tens of millions of dollars behind the campaign of Hillary Clinton.

No wonder they are flaming mad.

Hollywood actresses, many of whom built their careers off of Harvey Weinstein’s film, were victims of powerful men and could do nothing without serious repercussions to their careers. (And, yes, I mean “men” — plural. Some reporters have intimated that other “Weinsteins” exist in the darker corners of Hollywood. And how could they not?)

Women’s rights isn’t about abortion. It’s about women getting out from under the thumbs of men exactly like Harvey Weinstein, Hugh Hefner, and no doubt many others who preyed on them, threatened them, and forced them to do horrible acts against their wills. And these same men are the ones claiming to fight for women’s rights, all the while paying those same female actresses less than their male counterparts.

This is why liberal women are so angry. They have every right to succeed because of their own talents and will and determination, but they have been lied to, betrayed, demeaned, and abused by an army of people who told them they were their supporters and advocates.

Editor’s Note: A version of this article was published by the Daily Caller. Click here to read it.