The unique harm we cause when we dissect a powerful woman's love life

Source: Washington Post

The unique harm we cause when we dissect a powerful woman’s love life

By Monica Hesse
Columnist
January 29 at 3:19 PM

As of this week, women are running for president — multiple women — and lo, the country has been awarded the chance for a do-over. This time, we swear, we won’t order them to smile more if they really want our votes. This time, we’ll stop using phrases such as “likable enough?” when what we really mean is, “too many ovaries?”

Our collective consciousness has been raised and so we’ll begin by .?.?. excavating one of the candidate’s decades-old love life?

Sigh.

The candidate in question is Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.), whose past relationship with former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown was confirmed for the national media when Brown published an op-ed: Yes, they’d dated. And, yes, he “may have influenced her career” by appointing her to two commissions. But then again, he’d boosted the careers of a lot of people, he wrote. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Gov. Gavin Newsom were examples. Kamala Harris? She was unique, Brown claimed, only in that, “after I helped her, (she) sent word that I would be indicted if I ‘so much as jaywalked’ while she was D.A.”

The two things were separate, according to Brown. 1) They dated. 2) He helped her career. The latter didn’t have anything to do with the former.

Whether you believe that probably depends on whether you believe one can separate someone’s professional qualifications from their dinner companionship. Plenty of critics did not believe this was possible: “Hey @KamalaHarris given that you’re so vocal about the #MeToo movement, what are your thoughts on sleeping your way to the top of your political career?” queried right-wing pundit Tomi Lahren in a representative tweet.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-unique-harm-we-cause-when-we-dissect-a-powerful-womans-love-life/2019/01/29/9ae19b78-2325-11e9-81fd-b7b05d5bed90_story.html