The Womyn’s Center Newsletter: Out of My Mind
Chris Reilly
| Revision History | ||
|---|---|---|
| • November 13-27, 1991 | Newspaper: Funded by Syracuse University students. | |
| The Alternative Orange: Vol. 1, No. 2 (pp. 4) | ||
| • August 26, 2000 | Webpage:  . | |
| DocBook XML (DocBk XML V3.1.3) from original. | ||
When I decided to call this column “Out of My Mind,” I thought it was a cute allusion to the antiquated—at least I thought so then—practice of writing off the concerns of women as over-reactions or insanity. Within days of this decision, I was forced by the acts of the Senate to reconsider my optimism. While Senators Orrin Hatch’s and Alan Simpson’s use of literary quotes at Thomas’ confirmation hearing was laughable, their treatment of the only female player was appalling.
The aforementioned senators and their cronies insisted that a man who claims never to have discussed Roe vs. Wade, is a more credible witness than a woman who reported an all too common phenomenon in the work force, namely sexual harassment. These same senators suggested—with absolutely no grounds—that the woman, Anita Hill, was mentally unbalanced, that the allegations were products of her twisted mind. This woman has mistook, they say, her own fabrications for truth. They claim this scenario is the only rational reason for this woman to pass a lie detector test. I have another suggestion. She is telling the truth.
After the Senate’s treatment of Anita Hill, a woman who in any other circumstances would be seen as an extremely credible person, how will other women find the strength to come forward? My only hope is that the Senate hasn’t finally accomplished what Thomas couldn’t accomplish as chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, namely convinced women that sexual harassment is a paranoid delusion from which abnormal women suffer.
