Women respond to Roy Moore allegations by reminding the world what it looks like to be 14
‘Show what a 14-year-old looks like’
Adapted from a story by The Washington Post’s Jessica Contrera.
Four women have said Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama pursued romantic or sexual relationships with them when they were teenagers, and he was in his 30s.
One of the women, Leigh Corfman, said Moore kissed her, removed her clothes, and touched her over her bra and underwear when she was 14 years old. Moore was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney at the time. He has denied the accusations repeatedly.
So, beginning Thursday, women on Twitter began reminding us what 14 looks like.
Attorney Catherine Lawson was the first woman to tweet a photo of her 14-year-old self with the hashtag #MeAt14.
“Show what a 14-year-old looks like,” Lawson tweeted.
Lizz Winstead, the co-creator of “The Daily Show,” shared a photo of herself. Winstead asked her followers, “Who were you at 14?”
“I loved Star Wars and sailor moon and watched Nickelodeon,” one woman responded.
“I wasn’t dating a 32 year old male. I was riding horses, playing basketball, and trying to survive freshman year of high school,” another said.
All weekend, the responses kept coming.
By Monday morning, the hashtag had been used more than 700 times, according to the Twitter analytics tracker Keyhole.co. Celebrities had joined in, and so had teenagers who were 14 not all that long ago.
Moore has not responded specifically to the hashtag. He tweeted only once over the weekend — about Veterans Day.
Meanwhile, Alabama politicians and prominent Republicans have been deciding whether to denounce or distance themselves from Moore. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called for Moore to end his Senate campaign.
“I believe the women,” McConnell said, according to the Associated Press.
Other responses have sought to normalize the idea of a large age gap in a relationship.
Alabama state auditor Jim Zeigler offered an example of such a gap from the Bible: “Take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus.” Zeigler said. He also reminded the Washington Examiner that Moore’s wife, Kayla Moore, is significantly younger than her husband.
The difference, as many on Twitter were quick to point out, is that while Moore and his wife are two consenting adults, a 14-year-old cannot legally consent to a sexual relationship with someone in their 30s. In Alabama, the age of consent is 16.
