My Sexual Harassment is Not Your Clickbait

Tori Kelly
Sep 7, 2018 · 4 min read

Five years ago, the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics published the findings of their investigation of Assemblymember Vito Lopez. The 68-page report detailed how Lopez, my former boss and one of the most powerful men in New York State politics, used his office and influence to repeatedly sexually harass and abuse me and other female staff members for years.

The story was front-page news for weeks, covered by many reporters, including Ross Barkan. Barkan, who is running for State Senate in New York’s 22nd District in Brooklyn, has an entire page on his campaign website that promotes the political stories he’s written over the years. Missing from the site is his coverage of the Lopez investigation. Perhaps it’s because he chose to cover the story, working at The Observer, as a top ten “listicle” of instances of sexual harassment, numbered, cut out of context, and given flippant titles that are too offensive to the survivors to list here. Or perhaps it’s because the piece was tagged with “Kiss,” “Going There,” and “Thigh.” This article, entitled “Yikes!: The 10 Worst Allegations Against Vito Lopez in Ethics Report,” haunts me to this day.

Barkan prides himself on being an investigative journalist and “exposing firsthand how politicians fail us.” But when he could have focused his story on the culture of Albany and the powerful institutions that enabled the abuse, protected those responsible, and coerced the victims, he chose to take the most intimate, violating, embarrassing, and traumatizing experiences of my life and the lives of the other victims and report them as “clickbait.”

Stories like his contribute to why victims don’t come forward — they fear being reduced to bullet points and pithy headlines. I know that my experience, and those of the other women, deserved better. I can’t help but think of all the other victims suffering in silence who followed this type of coverage and chose to stay quiet out of fear.

As this years Primary Election approaches, it is important that the public be able to make the most informed decisions when deciding who to vote for. With so much at stake, and a spotlight on harassment-related policy this election, it is important for us to pay close attention to all candidates past actions and what they plan to do when elected.

As a journalist, words were Barkan’s means of action, yet he failed to use them to combat harassment. As we’ve watched Barkan’s Senate campaign unfold, there’s little reason to believe he would do significantly better in elected office.

When asked at a recent debate about the #MeToo Movement and what legislation he would pursue to combat sexual harassment, Barkan first told the packed room that until Eric Schneiderman, politics never had its #MeToo moment. Not only had he reduced our stories to a listicle, but he had forgotten about them. Then he said that as a State Senator he would call out sexual harassment wherever he sees it, a statement that comprises his platform on the issue and reflects his profound naivety. Behavior like this has been rampant in Albany for decades and women and men have been calling it out for years. Barkan just hasn’t been listening.

Maybe if he’d remembered my story, or reflected on any of the recent #MeToo stories he claims to care about, he’d know that predators terrorize their victims in places where you’re not likely to see it, where no one is there to “call it out.” Politicians like Vito Lopez, Assembly Member Micah Kellner, Assembly Member Dennis Gabryszak, Assembly Member Angela Wozniak, former Assembly Member and Regional Director of the Economic Development Corporation Sam Hoyt, Assembly Counsel Michael Boxley, and State Senator Hiram Monserrate prey on their victims in private- in hotel rooms, bars, cars, online chat rooms and closed offices. In most cases, there is never an opportunity to “call it out.” Moreover, simply “calling it out” does not ensure that the victims of harassment get justice.This is one of the reasons victims face so many obstacles when filing a complaint.

As a victim of sexual harassment by an elected official, I have found my own voice through The Sexual Harassment Working Group (SHWG), through which I advocate for legislation to adequately address the pervasiveness of sexual harassment. Saying “Time’s Up” is only the beginning. We need to elect candidates across the state, at every level of government, who will listen to victims, understand our needs, and meet them with meaningful legislative solutions. New Yorkers need real legislative changes that go so much further than anything that Barkan’s proposed.

In this race, I’m supporting Andrew Gounardes, who has put forth an agenda that fully addresses the issue and has embraced the proposals the SHWG has suggested. True leaders like Andrew will join in calling for the state law to be broadened to make it easier on victims pressing charges, will ask for the state to create a truly independent investigative body for those who are abused by state officials, and who will listen to victims on what additional changes are needed.

Fundamental changes will require electing candidates who are worthy of this movement.

Barkan’s platform, which displays not only his lack of knowledge on a critical issue but also his disinterest in taking the matter seriously, is wholly inadequate.

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