Gillibrand To Male Colleague Who Called Her 'Porky': 'Thanks A--hole'

[Mass]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gillibrand-male-colleagues-called-porky

She does not give names, but this clarifies why no gender equality bill can be passed in the US Senate (and I am sure some of this guys are "on our side".

In promoting her new book, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has come forward with several stories of being called "chubby," "fat," and "porky" by her male colleagues in Congress.

In one incident from her early days in the Senate, Gillibrand describes an older senator who approached her from behind and squeezed her waist. "Don’t lose too much weight now," she recalls him saying. "I like my girls chubby.”

Gillibrand also recounted the time a labor leader advised her to improve her looks if she wanted to win a special election for her Senate seat in 2010.

“When I first met you in 2006 you were beautiful, a breath of fresh air. To win, you need to be beautiful again," he said.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. A class act, those Congresscritters.

Who would ever believe they could have an approval rating lower than lice?

[Scootaloo]

4. In the spirit of accuracy, their approval rating is lower than TYPHUS

The lice are way up there next to airline food and Fran Drescher's rendition of the national anthem

[leftstreet]

2. Meh. She should name names n/t

[VanillaRhapsody]

5. yeah I agree....

ask any woman....the subtle dog whistle style misogyny happens all the frikken time. There are men that cannot even look women in the eyes....but that isn't overt sexism or harassment so you are forced to tolerate it...its little signs of disrespect...like being the new person on the job then soon after watching a male get hired in your same position and watching how they fawn all over them to make sure THEY have everything they need.....they rolled out the red carpet for my male counterpart....whom I helped hand select by the way....

[cwydro]

24. Agree

Stupid otherwise

[dilby]

27. I agree, I can't take her serious unless she does.

Sorry but she needs to call people out on the carpet when this shit happens, not cover it up to keep her party happy.

[hughee99]

31. I suspect she's not going to because they weren't republicans. n/t

[JI7]

3. no surprise

[Journeyman]

6. Gillibrand isn't especially offended by her coworkers' remarks. . .

Gillibrand isn't especially offended by her coworkers' remarks. "It was all statements that were being made by men who were well into their 60s, 70s or 80s," she says. "They had no clue that those are inappropriate things to say to a pregnant woman or a woman who just had a baby or to women in general."

She's too kind. I'm 60, and no one I know older than I am (or even younger), would ever believe statements such as these were acceptable to say to anyone, female or male, not even a relative or exceptionally close friend. But then, I guess I hang around with a classier group of people.


Gillibrand quote from, of all places, People Magazine (http://www.people.com/article/kirsten-gillibrand-hillary-clinton-president). i just did a search and its what came up.

[BronxBoy]

7. The problem is....

that these same men are making policy decisions affecting women in this country. If they were making those comments at the country club bar with no power to affect the lives of women, that's one thing. Making those comments and helping to make decisions on the laws of the land, quite another.

[Journeyman]

8. Tell that to Gillibrand, who apparently doesn't have a problem with their attitude. . .

I'm far more disturbed by her cavalier attitude than I am the rudeness and misogyny of her despicable compatriots -- I expect, and can see ways around their assholery; Gillibrand's, not so much.

[JI7]

12. it doesn't say she doesn't have a problem with it but that she is trying to make excuses

or give explanations . but while it may be true it still doesn't make it ok.

[Johonny]

15. Gillibrand isn't especially offended by her coworkers' remarks

I guess some people don't get sarcasm

"They had no clue that those are inappropriate things to say to a pregnant woman or a woman who just had a baby or to women in general."

I personally love the slow dig.

[Journeyman]

16. Sarcasm rarely, in fact never, comes with caveats. . .

"It was all statements that were being made by men who were well into their 60s, 70s or 80s," she said.

If it were intended as sarcasm, she'd have said, "It was all statements made by men who have no clue those are inappropriate things to say to a pregnant woman or a woman who just had a baby or to women in general."

But people hear what they want to hear.

[Johonny]

18. So what do you hear in this statement

In the House gym, she recalled, another of her male colleagues advised her to work out to avoid getting "porky."

"Thanks, a—hole,” she quipped in her book.


You do know smart people do insult people making statements that begin with caveats and end with... insults. It is a form of comedic statement that is older than you or me. She only said by the end of that excerpt that these men don't understand how to communicate with half the human race but you know you hear something different. That's why she tosses out the occasional Thanks, a-hole. For people that don't like people being subtle. I do you give you that she seems to go easy on Harry Reid in the book excerpts... but thanks asshole seems pretty harsh to me. But what do I know. Maybe it is a form of greeting where you are from.

[VanGoghRocks]

23. These are the same good-ole-boys who approved Clarence Thomas for SCOTUS, thereby

insinuating that Anita Hill had lied.

BTW, Joe Biden was then-Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee that voted out Thomas' nomination.

VAWA aside, I'll never forgive Biden for that.

[karynnj]

29. I'm 64 and it never was polite to say anything like this

It would be interesting to have some idea which of her colleagues said this, however, it would be completely impolitical for her to identify any. What surprises me is that most pre baby boom people, while there was far more sexism, there was a far stricter (though chauvinistic) set of manners.

What also surprises me is that in the 50s and 60s, though it was extremely offensive, some men did differentiate between the "girls they could take home to mom" and those who they wouldn't. Here, you would expect they would be polite to their peer - a US Senator - even if their behavior towards staff was atrocious. (Please note - this behavior is unacceptable towards any woman.)

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

9. Name names, please

You know shithead McCain is one of them.

[OilemFirchen]

10. I just discovered I LOVE porky women.

A shock to my system, indeed:

[steve2470]

19. if I put a 1949 photo of my mom next to her....

they could be sisters.

[KansDem]

20. I hear ya!

I see "cool," "confident," and "worldly-wise," but not "porky."

[LittleBlue]

33. She's fat?

Harsh, very harsh.

And this "they were old" excuse doesn't jive with me. I can't recall my grandparents ever walking up to someone and calling them fat to their faces. Has there ever been a time when calling someone fat wasn't considered rude?

[caraher]

42. She's not fat

but she did have substantial post-pregnancy weight that she shed prior to the Vogue piece the photo KansDem posted. Probably somewhere during that transition is where she was getting all the unsolicited advice and attention concerning her weight. From Wikipedia

The Gillibrands had their first child, Theodore, in 2003, and their second son, Henry, in 2008. Gillibrand is the sixth woman to have a child while serving as a member of Congress. She continued to work until the day of Henry's delivery, for which she received a standing ovation from her colleagues in the House the next day.

She's far too generous to these jerks in what she wrote. Who asked any of these guys for their opinions? Who gave that one guy license to paw at her waist?

That this is a discussion we're even having speaks volumes about how sick the culture is in the corridors of government.

[AverageJoe90]

11. Not cool, man. People shouldn't be treated that way.

There may not have always been ill intent, but still, not a good thing to do to someone who doesn't appreciate it. Kudos to Sen. Gillibrand for standing up for herself.

[Skittles]

13. if a guy "squeezed my waist" he would lose his arm

yes he would

[11 Bravo]

35. Before I met her, back in the '70s, my wife was an AA on the Hill. She lost count ...

of the number of times Strom Thurmond "accidentally" brushed his hand against her breasts. (His nickname among the female staffers was "Sperm" Thurmond.) If I could, I would like to exhume him, hold him upright, and get you to KICK HIS ASS!

[SunSeeker]

37. "Sperm Thurmond"...

[Skittles]

41. see, no, he would die

I don't fault other gals because I know growing up with a slew of brothers made me a bit, er assertive

[alp227]

14. Her weight never crossed my mind a bit, until I read this article.

Sheesh what is WRONG with people in modern America?

[steve2470]

39. same here

Those male Senators are lucky they were not all cursed out. Even back in the day, those remarks were rude, by anyone. Who gives a **** about her weight except her and her doctor ?

[progressoid]

17. Keeping it classy on capital hill.

[geek tragedy]

21. What male privilege? nt

[bullwinkle428]

22. Yeah, no misogyny there.

[hifiguy]

25. She should have put her foot

up his ass. Whatever happened to common courtesy and basic professionalism?

[Lint Head]

26. Strom Thurmond was a well known creep. He would pinch women's rear ends on the elevator.

Even from his wheelchair he was a lecher. My sister saw him in Washington once and said he looked like Frankenstein's Monster because of the hair implants all in a row where his hair was falling out.

[11 Bravo]

36. See post #35 upthread. I replied to Skittles before ...

I read all the way down to your post. You are absolutely correct about Thurmond.

[Shemp Howard]

28. Without names, her statements are next to worthless.

So let's see, some of Sen. Gillibrand's colleagues called her names. I don't doubt that.

But without naming names, all of her colleagues are now under a bit of suspicion. "I'll bet it was Senator A. But it could have been Senators B and C as well."

Would naming names have caused trouble for Sen. Gillibrand? Almost certainly. But that's what heroism is all about.

As it is, her statements do have some up-side as it brings attention to a problem. But without naming names, many people can reasonably assume that she is just making things up to sell a book.

[hughee99]

38. What if putting names out there hurts Dem chances of keeping the Senate?

For instance, if some of those comments came from Dems in tight races this fall. I don't think the decision is necessarily an easy one, but she put herself in a bad spot by telling the story and NOT naming the names.

[Plucketeer]

46. I agree with what you say

Consider that we're hearing the opinion of a Three Stooges member.

[wheniwasincongress]

30. I wish she would name names.

It hurts when powerful women (actresses come to mind in these situations) speak about what happened but decline to name names.

(My actresses comment refers to them speaking about "a director" asking them sexual favors for a role, casting couch, etc.)

[jmowreader]

32. What woman would be "not porky" in their world?

I understand it's been a while since she was on the cover of the Babes of the Senate Swimsuit Calendar, but last I checked Kirsten Gillibrand is the thinnest person in the Senate.

Now ya want to talk porky? Yertle the Turtle will do nicely, at least until November when he gets stomped.

[WI_DEM]

34. She is quite attractive--those creepy male senators should

keep their mouths shut.

[Dont call me Shirley]

40. And their hands to themselves.

[lunasun]

43. They think they can say that because they are fit trim super buff guys

Not everyone can be in super shape like them all the time and they should lay off the inappropriate very bad manners

[Wella]

44. Guys know that every woman worries about being fat. It's a power play, nothing more.

These males are guys who secretly worry about their lack of control in any given situation--and about their penis size.

[davidpdx]

45. In the first example given by the OP

Gillibrand should have simply punched the guy in the face. That to me is a clear example of sexual harassment.

The second one it's harder to judge what is happening without hearing more of what the situation was. Was this the one where she was called porky? I don't know.