Former US President … Perve?
Jordana Grolnick, Heather Lind, Christina Baker Kline and now Amanda Staples have all been victims of sexual harassment by the same man. What is most surprising is the fact that this man is a former US President. According to Grolnick, Mr. Bush said the joke “Do you want to know who my favorite magician is? David Cop-a-Feel! ” as he went on to grab her behind. Former US President George H.W. Bush has been accused by these women of grabbing them inappropriately. Mr. Bush’s office than offered a statement saying the following,
“At age 93, President Bush has been confined to a wheelchair for roughly five
years, so his arm falls on the lower waist of people with whom he takes
Mr. Bush has a rare form of Parkinson’s disease called vascular Parkinsonism. This disease causes strokes that ultimately damage nerve cells in the brain, this leading to irrational behaviour. One would assume that this “irrational behaviours” would not include grabbing women’s butts repetitively, but such behaviour seems to always just happen to Mr. Bush. It became such a routine that his office made an official ‘apology’ to end all the previous accusations and future ones as well.
Angela Y. Davis from Waller’s and Rycenga’s book “Frontline Feminisms” quoted the following, “sometimes, women suffer abuses such as political repression in ways that are similar to those afflicted on men. But since the dominant image of the political actor in our world is male, the problem for women is visibility “ (pg 23). Having this in mind and analyzing Mr. Bush’s office apology towards these women, one can see that this so called apology is really not an apology at all. At the beginning of this so called apology they start off by giving an excuse for Mr. Bush’s actions, he does this because his arm falls on the lower waist. They then call his behaviour “good-natured manner.” Majority of the time women are touched this way, these actions were never seen as good natured by those harassed. At the end of the apology it is said “some have seen it as innocent; others clearly view it as inappropriate.” Here putting some sort of blame or shame into the women who found it offensive. Implying that other can actually see such behaviour as innocent, but other bitchy and insensitive people clearly see it as inappropriate. Ultimately this is an apology but not really an apology as it is more of a heads up for anyone getting close to Mr. Bush any time soon.
When Davis said that women’s problem is visibility this is what she was referring to. In the act of trying to apologize to the women Mr. Bush herassed, the apology focuses more on Mr. Bush and making the reader feel sorry for him and his condition. That if you are an understanding person you would find such actions as “good-nature” unlike these women. These women were invisible in the sense that they did not deserve the real apology they deserved. Their names were not mentioned and this so called apology is only good enough to not let Mr. Bush look like the inappropriate dirty old man he might just be.
The political institution only cares enough to not let itself look bad. It protects its people, from presidents to councilman or mayors. If this institution or anyone under it such as Mr. Bush, does anything that could make them look bad they will fix it. It focuses on its own people and not everyone as a community and even less on those women who were clearly harassed.
In Davis’ words, women are less and less visible. Some are taken advantage of and ignored when they decide to speak up. These four women wanted to make a statement in regards to former President Bush but instead all they received was a most likely, last minute, put together apology. Women deserve more than being grabbed by old man. They should not let it go so easily simply because they are “old men.” Age should not determine whether it is okay to be disrespected or not. Being part of of the government or politics should not determine whether it is okay for one to disrespect others. Women’s problem should not be visibility. Truly, no one should have the issue of visibility, just as Mr. Bush is able to use his sickness as an excuse to touch butts, women should be able to use their voice to be heard, and be taken serious. To be visible.
