Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) on Monday lamented that she wasn’t always in a position to tell off the men who harassed her over her looks.
In an interview on HuffPost Live, she addressed one particular instance she wrote about in her book in which a labor leader told her what she needed to do in order to get elected to the Senate.
“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 to her.
Gillibrand said that at the time, she just needed to let it roll of her shoulders and continue to listen to him.
“I’ve just had a baby, I’ve just been appointed, I have a lot to learn, so much on my plate, and this man basically says to me, ‘You’re too fat to be elected statewide. And at that moment, if I could have just disappeared, I would have,” she said on HuffPost Live. “I didn’t hear a word he said, but I wasn’t in a place where I could tell him to go fuck himself.”
She did say that in a separate instance she was able to respond to a colleague who harassed her.
In her book, she wrote that a male member of Congress called her “porky” in the congressional gym.
“Thanks, a—hole,” she retorted.
Well, I think he/they got the message now. This woman approves that statement,
Could we stop blaming Kirsten Gillibrand for not speaking up until now?
I mean it. This bullsh$t needs to stop.
Wouldn’t mind seeing her run for President some day.
Agree, though I do think it’s important for her characterization of these guys as jerks and a$$holes and her right to pick her battles is important to be out there, again and again, to counter all the other voices saying that if she won’t name the guys, then it never happened.
And for not naming names for the voyeur trolls who insist on it.