No Matter Who’s Elected, Patriarchy Reigns

CONTENT WARNING: rape, sexual assault, physical abuse, violent misogyny, child abuse

Hillary Clinton’s nomination as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate at the DNC recently has been hailed by many as an historic moment in feminist history, as she is the first woman to be nominated by a major party. If she wins the race, she will become America’s first ever woman president. And yet, not all see this as a feminist victory. Protesters march the streets outside declaring her hawkish war policies as being anti-feminist. Others find weariness in her former policies and political stances.

Her husband, former president Bill Clinton, introduced her to the event via a love story that started out with an awkward tale of light college stalking which seems to have turned out innocently enough as they have been married for 40 years. Throughout his speech, he recounted her many achievements, cautiously “fast forwarding” past his own indiscretions, many of which Hillary has spent her career cleaning up after.

In 1969, Bill Clinton, a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University met a 19 year old woman named Eileen Wellstone at a pub near campus. She claims he raped her that night and while no charges were filed, a retired State Department employee later anonymously stated in 1999 to Capitol Blue Hill that, “[t]here was no doubt in my mind that this young woman had suffered severe emotional trauma…But we were under tremendous pressure to avoid embarrassment of having a Rhodes scholar charged with rape.” Clinton left Oxford without obtaining his degree.

In 1972, in a similar situation but now as a law student at Yale, he allegedly assaulted a 22 year old woman. While no charges were filed yet again, a retired campus police officer confirmed the incident to Capitol Hill Blue as well.

In 1974, after graduating and becoming a law school instructor at the University of Arkansas, he allegedly tried to prevent a female student from leaving his office and groped her, forcing his hand down her blouse.

On April 25, 1978, Arkansas Attorney General Bill Clinton allegedly raped his county coordinator and volunteer for his gubernatorial campaign, Juanita Broaddrick, subduing her by biting her lip which was left blue and bleeding.

From 1978-1980, Governor of Arkansas Bill Clinton was subject to at least seven complaints of sexual harassment during his first term, many of which were commonly known to his staff. One retired officer said in an interview that the common joke among the state troopers assigned to the governor was “who’s next?”

In 1979, after meeting the Governor at a political fundraiser, Carolyn Moffet, a Little Rock legal secretary, was invited to meet with him privately in his hotel room. According to her own testimony, “I was escorted there by a state trooper. When I went in, he was sitting on a couch, wearing only an undershirt.”

In 1982, shortly after winning the title of Miss America, Elizabeth Ward Gracen told friend that she was raped by Clinton. While she has never publicly stated that she was raped by Bill Clinton, she did admit to having had sex with him in which she claims that he got carried away, was rough, and bit and bruised her lip in a similar way to Juanita Broaddrick. Although Elizabeth maintains that the sex was consensual, her friend Judy Stokes has come out and said that Elizabeth has privately stated to the contrary and even Elizabeth publicly admits that she was the victim of a terror campaign to keep her quiet in the wake of Bill Clinton’s impeachment proceedings, stating:

“I think [Bill] is a very dangerous, manipulative man and I’ve had to be very careful. There was a lot of pressure on my family and friends, people were being staked out. I was a little bit afraid for my safety at one point. It’s just not an area where you are safe.

Yes, I was physically scared. We are talking about the presidency of the country here, and between the friendly calls on one hand telling me to get out of town for my own good and then talking about smear tactics on the other, I got scared. Yes, physically scared. There were always veiled threats. Always. I did nothing wrong except one stupid night a long time ago. But now this year has become very frightening.”

Paula Corbin, an Arkansas state worker, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Governor Clinton after he exposed himself to her in a Little Rock hotel room.

In 1991, the then-presidential candidate allegedly invited former Washington DC political fundraiser Sandra Allen James to his hotel room, pinned her to the wall, and forced his hand down her dress.

In 1992, Bill Clinton allegedly exposed himself to Christy Zarcher, the flight attendant on his leased campaign plane. She also claimed that he fondled her breasts and made explicit sexual remarks about her.

In November of 1993, Bill Clinton allegedly groped White House volunteer Kathleen Willey against her will during a meeting in the Oval Office.

Now any good feminist knows not to judge a woman on the basis of her husband but on the basis of her own character as an individual. That is completely valid and is not my intention whatsoever. Being married to a rapist does not discount her from being a feminist and could actually, depending on the circumstances, be used to portray her in a sympathetic light. But her reactions to her husband’s discrepancies have proven her to be far from the feminist icon she’s hailed to be. Many of her husband’s victims have cited threats from not only Bill but Hillary as well in the aftermath of several of these incidents. In the case of Juanita Broaddrick, “[e]vidence suggests Hillary Clinton knew about the rape in real time and helped cover it up. We know this because Larry Nichols was in the room with Buddy Young when Hillary came running in, shouting “You will never believe what the mother⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎⁎ did now- he tried to rape some b⁎⁎⁎⁎!” Rather than reporting the incident to authorities, Hillary Clinton attempted to intimidate the victim into silence.”

In fact in an open letter to Hillary Clinton, Broaddrick wrote:

Do you remember how you thanked me, saying “we want to thank you for everything that you do for Bill.” At that point, I was pretty shaken and started to walk off. Remember how you kept a tight grip on my hand and drew closer to me?

You repeated your statement, but this time with a coldness and look that I have seen many times on television in the last eight years. You said, “Everything you do for Bill.” You then released your grip and I said nothing and left the gathering.

What did you mean, Hillary? Were you referring to my keeping quiet about the assault I had suffered at the hands of your husband only two weeks before? Were you warning me to continue to keep quiet?

Mind you, she’s threatening her husband’s rape victims in the same state where she opened their first rape crisis center. Way to save public face while burying violence against women under the rug. Is this what counts as a feminist icon today?

Now none of this (obviously) is to say that Trump is any better in this respect. With at least three sexual assault allegations to his name including his ex-wife Ivana who was bullied by Trump’s lawyers into changing her story, business client Jill Harth whom he attempted to rape in his child’s room while her partner was in the room next to them, and a 13 year old girl whom The Donald tied up, raped, and beat at one of “billionaire pedophile” Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous parties of which a witness claims to have seen him attend regularly. The same witness claimed to have seen the presidential candidate force several minors to perform oral sex on him and violently assault them. Trump is every bit as violently misogynistic as good ol’ Bill. But the point is that no matter how much the media and others want to misconstrue Hillary’s nomination as a feminist victory and no matter who you vote for in November, the child rapist or the rape apologist, patriarchy wins.