I just watched the whole series. It felt like a full circle moment to me. Countless people will now totally understand your situation back then and how devastating and painful it was for you. Millions of people are PROUD of you, Monica. Hold your head up high! ❤
Aren’t we so very lucky to have Monica in the public eye telling her story, and providing tools to combat online bullying? I saw her interview Hannah Gadsby, who is also no stranger to real life bullying. Such an erudite talk.
At first I got sucked in by the news around Monica Lewinsky. That shortly changed after people around me kept saying what a good standup guy Bill Clinton was. I said to one of my male friends that Bill Clinton had used his power to elicit sex from one of his interns, who should feel safe around him. That is what assault looks like. The offender makes it seem as though both people in an inappropriate relationship are equally complicit. Ever since that realisation for me, whenever Clinton or Monica were brought up, I said the same thing. You can just see people stop and think about it, for the first time. I’m not here to suggest that Monica didn’t consent to having sex with Clinton. But I can see how seductive it might be for a president to show interest in you, when he shouldn’t be. Also, he was married ffs. I have heard people talk about Hilary Clinton for being an idiot because she stood by him. They were going to call her an idiot no matter what she did. If she left him, they’d say she squandered any opportunity to get ahead politically. It was a no win situation for her. You still don’t hear people talk about Clinton in a negative way. It very much a case of let’s not talk about his role in the situation. He was just being a lad! Look at him go! This is the man who once uttered the phrase “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is. If the-if he-if ‘is’ means is and never has been, that is not-that is one thing.” Not a man to be emulated, or admired.
That's on you. Most women (and men) have had past sexual encounters they regret. Maybe not always as dramatic, but most people have some secrets they keep under tight lock. She was unlucky in that hers was monumental and public, but she is no different from anyone else.
