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A L S O++T O D A Y

The Willey of our discontent
By Katie Roiphe
American women are as weary of the sexual policing of the '90s as they are skeptical of the president's latest accuser

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D R A M A++Q U E E N

Ever had a lover who reminded you of a humpy miniature poodle? Send your lame lover tale to Drama Queen for a Day

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T A B L E++T A L K

How do you care for children with sleep disorders and still keep your sanity? You snooze, you lose in the Mothers area of Table Talk

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R E C E N T L Y

Second Thoughts
By Sallie Tisdale
For years, I longed to love my father and be loved by him in return. But I don't, and am not
(03/18/98)

A feel for a good story
By Carol Lloyd
Thank God for those notorious womanizers at "60 Minutes," who make it safe for women like Kathleen Willey to speak out about sexual harassment
(03/17/98)

Labia envy
By Louisa Kamps
Ladies, are you troubled by the appearance of your genitalia? Call Dr. Alter.
(03/16/98)

Leap of faith
By Jennifer New
Getting to the Promised Land with my mother-in-law
(03/13/98)

The high priestess of free love
By Suzette Lalime
Victoria Woodhull, prostitute and presidential candidate
(03/12/98)

ARCHIVES

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Mamafesto
By Camille Peri
Why it's time
for Mothers Who Think

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DOES PRESIDENT CLINTON FEEL WOMEN'S PAIN -- OR CAUSE IT? | PAGE 2 OF 2

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Will Kathleen Willey's allegations cut into the support that the president has managed to maintain among American women throughout the Lewinsky affair?

That's what everybody is saying, but I don't claim to have any special insight into public opinion. My concern, since the Lewinsky case, has not been whether he did something criminal, because it seems that there wasn't any criminal activity in terms of sexual harassment -- my concern is, what kind of workplace is the White House? And I think I have a right to that concern -- this is not some private corporate headquarters. This is our business. This is the people's business. The picture we've gotten is of a workplace where rewards are distributed to women, in part, on the basis of their looks or their sexual availability. That is not what we've been striving for. We want workplaces where we're not judged by our bodies, or how short our skirts are, but by the work we do.

The White House is not a place I would want to work. This is not a place where I would want my daughter to work. Monica Lewinsky got this amazing amount of presidential attention. She got personal career counseling from Vernon Jordan. She visited (United Nations representative) Bill Richardson. And nobody has ever said she was a hot-shot, dynamo policy intern.

Do the letters that Willey sent to the president, calling herself his "number one fan" and signed, "fondly" -- does this make her any less credible?

It's the same thing we saw with Anita Hill and no feminists seemed to complain much about that -- she maintained a relationship with Clarence Thomas in case it would help her with her career. Neither of these women came forth with criminal charges -- finally something happened that made them want to speak up. But I don't really know how the letters will change things.

Do you think these letters illustrate the gray areas of sexual harassment cases -- that Willey and the president might have been mutually interested and flirtatious with one another before the incident? Does that change things?

Well, if she was filing a criminal charge, we'd have to examine all of that in court. But what bothers me is an observation made in either Newsweek or Time saying that White House aides have learned to hire pretty assistants and put those assistants' desks closest to the corridor where Clinton is likely to see them. They do this to bring attention to their programs and their area of work. We have an impression of a White House where some people were utilizing the president's problem in that way, and others like [intern coordinator] Evelyn Lieberman have sort of been on cop duty, establishing rules like interns can't look him in the eye, and rules about skirt length. You get a sense of a White House that is not only dealing with Iraq, Bosnia, welfare and so on. But one that was also organized around this man's problem. And that is very, very, disturbing.

Why should we as Americans be concerned with the president's "problem"?

We should be concerned because of his hypocrisy. This is the guy who signed the welfare reform bill that budgets money for abstinence training for poor women. This is a guy who signed another bill to give special government money to schools that would teach abstinence-only and no birth control. He has been a standard bearer of the far right on "family values" issues. I think he's got it coming.
SALON | March 19, 1997