What's the difference between Paula Jones and Anita Hill? Feminists have been furiously burning through gray matter trying to answer that question in a way that explains why they have not come to the aid of the woman accusing the president of sexual misconduct.
Finally, Hill enumerated the differences: "I did not file a lawsuit. I did not bring a claim of sexual harassment. I provided information about how (an individual) comported himself."
In other words, there is no difference. Only that Jones' claims - while just as substantive - are more formal. What has evolved is a sexual harassment debate that says more about women than men.
"When Anita Hill stepped forward (to accuse Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas), she found . . . her integrity, morality, sanity called into question by the very same people who wanted to know why she didn't step forward sooner," said Democrat Ann Lewis at the time. The same is true of Jones. But feminists have not rushed to her defense in ideological lockstep as they did with Hill, excoriating the Senate Judiciary Committee as out-of-touch sexists who "just don't get it!"
When Hill was called a political opportunist, Rep. Pat Schroeder shot back: "(Men) don't understand what sexual harassment is . . . They all think . . . 'We need to stick together or all these women will make allegations setting us up.' "
"This is a tenured professor of law making these charges!" said Ellie Smeal of the Fund for the Feminist Majority. Harriet Woods of the National Women's Political Caucus compared Hill to Rosa Parks and Susan B. Anthony.
What a difference a few years can make. You listen to feminists weigh in on Paula Jones and marvel at how much they sound like, well . . . men.
The National Organization for Women's Patricia Ireland wondered about the "motivation of the people . . . pumping this story."
"The charges are not considered very credible," says Schroeder. The issue "just makes me want to throw up."
"I just don't believe Paula Jones," says Susan Estrich, women's advocate, USA TODAY columnist and author of Real Rape.
This from the women who used to wear green "I believe Anita Hill" buttons like Girl Scout merit badges.
They should still believe Hill, who says, "Sometimes people who we admire and respect . . . may engage in behavior that is objectionable and maybe even be against the law."
Jones waited nearly three months for a statement of support from her sisters. When it arrived, the best NOW could muster was the tepid, "We take these allegations seriously as we do all charges of sexual harassment."
What's really happened is that this has gone from an issue of morality to one of politics. Jones, unlike Hill, is not the instrument through which liberal Democrats are going to derail the Supreme Court nomination of a conservative judge suspected of anti-abortion sentiments. Jones is a suspected "tool" of the right wing who has support from Operation Rescue folks and Clinton-hating Arkansas pols.
So, if you want to use a harassment claim to bring down a conservative, then you are a feminist icon. But if you lack a graduate degree, are backed by religious groups, and want the same kind of support in your fight against a liberal Democrat - then, you just don't get it.
