A Hill to Die On!!

Henry Blaikie
Nov 2 · 3 min read

(Like I said, this isn’t news or a column, so if you want the whole Katie Hill story before reading my take, go read an actual news outlet’s reporting and then return!)

Katie Hill’s final floor speech yesterday is worth the watch.

She’s a victim of revenge porn. Hill is not the first and certainly won’t be the last member of congress to have their personal photos weaponized to their political ruin. Katie Hill did not commit any crime, her ex-husband did.

By far the most gut-wrenching part of her final floor address was when she touched on the mental and emotional effects of the ordeal. Atypically candid for a speech on the House floor, Katie Hill detailed her suffering: debilitating depression, overwhelming fear, guilt, and humiliation.

It’s important to differentiate Katie Hill’s situation from other congressional sex scandals in recent years. She did not sexually harass or assault anyone, she did not have non-consensual relations with anyone, she did not send naked photos to anyone (solicited or otherwise), she did not make unwanted advances, she did not use the power of her office to sexually coerce or intimidate (this is where opponents might disagree), she was not engaged in an extra-martial relations (not a crime or an ethics violation even if she was…), she did not attempt to cover anything up (quite the opposite), she did not spend tax dollars on hush-money payoffs, and, most crucially, she did not break any laws.

Opponents are quick to note that Hill was engaged in a sexual relationship with a subordinate in her congressional office, which merits her resignation (and would be an ethics violation). But Hill denies any relationship with her House office staffer. Her supposed relationship with this staffer is (so far) unfounded. Additionally, the ethics investigation into her situation was not concluded (and therefore found no wrongdoing).

Katie Hill did not have to resign. But I suppose her alternatives were no better: stay in congress, drag everything out in an ethics investigation, face continued abuse and humiliation, and possibly lose re-election.

I keep wondering whether there’s a double standard at play here, whether Hill’s identity as a female and bisexual has anything to do with how this situation is being handled. I’m still not sure. Other members of congress have have been taken down by their leaked nudes (most notably Anthony Weiner, but more recently Joe Barton of Texas), but none have been lgbt or women and none - apart from Hill - have said that these pictures were taken without their consent.

Hill’s bisexuality seems (keyword) to be irrelevant here. The issue (at least for those who think there is an issue) doesn’t seem to be whether she had a relationship with a man or woman (or both), but that she had any relationship to begin with.

I was sure then that the issue for Hill lied in her gender, that being a woman made her more susceptible to being victimized by revenge porn. But the numbers do not add up, men and women in the United States are about equally as likely to fall victim to revenge porn (I was surprised, too). It would be wrong to say her being a woman leaves her more vulnerable to revenge porn (though I remain deeply skeptical, and would like to see some sort of breakdown of male vs. female revenge porn victims in the US).

I’m still not convinced that there aren’t deeper forces within our collective political psyche that have contributed to Katie Hill’s downfall.

Let’s say for all intents and purposes she was engaged in a sexual relationship with a subordinate… does that merit her being publicly humiliated and threatened with further personal destruction? No. At most, it merits her resignation, but not the extra baggage (i.e. having naked photos of yourself be released for the entire world to see, being threatened with further retaliation, etc.).

But I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is that makes Katie Hill a target. It’s easy to assume it’s because of her sexuality and/or gender, but much harder to prove. Maybe (probably) it’s the political climate. But maybe not.

I don’t think Katie Hill should have resigned, but after her speech yesterday, I can’t say I blame her either. At what point is it just not worth the harassment and character defamation anymore?

Next piece alert: I’m almost done reading Graham Allison’s Destined for War: Can America and China Escape the Thucydides Trap?, so I guess I’ll do some sort of book review. Look out for it. Cheers.

Henry Blaikie

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