The Texas Legislature’s Sexist Little Secret
Tales from "the last of the good ol' boys clubs."
by Olivia Messer Published on Wednesday, July 31, 2013, at 1:17 CST
In January, I returned to my home state to cover the Texas Legislature. After a seven-year absence, I was eager to spend the next 140 days writing for this magazine about the theatrics—and occasional clownery—of the Legislature’s 2013 regular session. I had no idea what I was getting into.
It didn’t take me long to realize that as a woman, and especially a young woman, I’d be treated differently than my male colleagues. Within weeks, I’d already heard a few horrifying stories. Like the time a former Observer staffer, on her first day in the Capitol, was invited by a state senator back to his office for personal “tutoring.” Or, last session, when Rep. Mike “Tuffy” Hamilton interrupted Marisa Marquez during a House floor debate to ask if her breasts were real or fake.
Thankfully I never experienced anything so sexually explicit. Instead, I encountered a string of subtle but demeaning comments. One of the first interviews I conducted for the Observer, in February, was with a male senator about an anti-abortion bill. I was asking questions about whether the bill would reduce access to abortion. At the end of the interview, as soon as I turned off my recorder, he said, “How old are you, sweetheart? You look so young.”
Another day, near the end of the regular session, I was at the Capitol (doing interviews for this story, coincidentally) when a House page stopped me on my way out of the chamber. “I’ve never seen you in here before,” he said. “Who do you work for?” I answered the question, assuming that he wanted to see my press badge. “Well, uh, this may seem forward,” he stammered, “but I’m not sure if I’ll ever see you again—could I maybe take you out to lunch or dinner some time?” He looked about 16, red-faced and innocent. I politely declined. When I walked over to the Senate chamber, a staffer stopped me. “Wow,” he said. “You look really beautiful today.” My face turned red. I thanked him and walked to a seat at the press table. It was the third time that day the staffer had mentioned my appearance, and I was beginning to feel that what I looked like mattered more than my work—at least to the men in the building. At a certain point, after enough of these run-ins—which included male staffers from both chambers, some of whom I knew to be married, hitting on me, making comments about my physical appearance, touching my arm—it finally occurred to me that, when I was at work, I was often fending off advances like I was in a bar.
What surprised me was how many women who work in the Capitol—legislators, staffers, lobbyists, other reporters—felt the same way. Everyone, it seemed, had a story or anecdote about being objectified or patronized.
more
http://www.texasobserver.org/the-texas-legislatures-sexist-little-secret/
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Response to Javaman (Reply #3)
She says she's originally from Texas, no?, and yet she must have grown up in a bubble of protection against routine culture in Texas, which can be understandable for young people who are heavily filtered in their education by the Texas 6% ruling class.
My only point when I got blasted before was that what she was reporting as something mind-blowingly revelatory is a well known thing. Where did she spend the past seven years, in a Blue state?, fine, so she readily accepted the Blue culture without ever contrasting it with where she grew up? Or perhaps she grew up in a Blue enclave in Texas that was still protected from the Neanderthal legislators.
When I was attacked for criticizing "this woman," I said that uninformed and lazy reporters are an old and favorite target for me. Then somebody else said that he or she didn't know this reporter's revelatory experience "was happening."
When I questioned *that* I was told that he or she didn't know what goes on in all 50 states and that neither do I.
Well, I beg to differ that this one particular state should be such a mystery to the rest of the country since it has been a looming factor on the entire country, at least from the assassination in Dallas, the Vietnam presidency, the Poppy BUSH and Shrub assholery including more than one illegal war, the actual reporting of Molly IVINS, the book last year by Gail COLLINS (NY Times), "As Texas Goes."
It's a lot different for me not to understand, say, why the state of Minnesota has been turning out wingnut creepiness for the past years, than for just about any American be oblivious to the 6% wingnut population's culture that rules Texas.
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http://www.amazon.com/As-Texas-Goes-Hijacked-American/dp/0871404079
Review
“There is no one like Gail Collins: uproarious fun on every page, but with a serious point. In this wonderful book she devastates Texas for its hypocrisy, its ignorance, its worship of wealth. But you cannot keep laughing as she shows how the Texan mind works a baleful influence on the rest of the country.” (Anthony Lewis )
“The reader who senses a touch of sarcasm would not be wrong…. [Collins] has a good eye for absurd details.” (Erica Grieder - New York Times )
“With wit and humor, Collins focuses on major Texas figures, from Davy Crockett to Rick Perry, to offer a portrait of an outsize state anxious to take on the task of setting the rest of the country straight and of the broader implications that has for the rest of the country.” (Booklist )
“Gail Collins is the funniest serious political commentator in America. Reading As Texas Goes… is pure pleasure from page one.” (Rachel Maddow )
“There's no funnier writer about politics than Gail Collins, and in Texas, she's found the perfect canvas. The state's record at producing some of the nuttiest characters ever to enter American public life is matched only by its recent prowess in infecting the other 49 states with those politicians' most crackpot policy ideas. Collins serves up hilarity and horror in equal measure and leaves you rooting for Rick Perry to make good on his threat to lead Texas out of the Union.” (Frank Rich )
“New York Times columnist Collins revels in the state's 10-gallon self-regard, Alamo-inspired cult of suicidal last stands, and eccentric right-wing pols... Much like the late Texas dissident Molly Ivins, she slathers plenty of wry humor onto a critique that stings like a red-hot brand.” (Publishers Weekly )
“Starred review. New York Times political columnist Collins zeroes in on what makes Texas so important and why the rest of the country needs to know and care about what’s happening there…A timely portrait of Texas delivered with Collins’ unique brand of insightful humor.” (Kirkus Reviews )
“(Collins) set off on a whirlwind tour to discover the Lone Star State and its transcendent meaning, deploying a breezy, wisecracking polemical style familiar to fans (including me) of her twice-weekly column in The Times.” (Lloyd Grove - New York Times Book Review )
“New York Times columnist Gail Collins makes a compelling case in As Texas Goes... that much of what ails the nation began down in the Lone Star State… her larger thesis has a chilling ring of truth. Texas represents a kind of dark bellwether for the rest of the country: a two-tiered society in which the affluent rig the system in their favor while a vast underclass struggles to pay for basic services such as medical care.” (Steve Almond - Boston Globe )
“Collins lays out a convincing case that many of the nation’s more misguided—sometimes outright wacky—policies originated in Texas, ranging from public education to environmental regulation to teaching kids about sex… Worth a read.” (Deborah Yetter - Louisville Courier-Journal )
About the Author
Gail Collins, the best-selling author of When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, is a national columnist for the New York Times. She lives in New York City.
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First of all, the title of the article is "sexist little secret." My point being that it is NO secret.
As for the 6%, I might have said it wrongly, but there is a recent article (I'll look it up for everybody, again, since I posted it and it got ZILCH attention, as usual), and it REPORTED that the 6% of the entire population in Texas THAT VOTES, is the Rethug wingnuts in their wingnut primaries that go on to dominate the entire state's government.
I am beginning to understand after so many years that in DU my stepping on toes means I tend to exercise some critical thinking on wishful favorite topics (and therefore get blasted).
I'll do the homework and get that article on the 6%. ON EDIT: Oh, here 'tis, and it was published during the Wendy DAVIS filibuster, so I'll throw in the graphic below:
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Written by Harold Cook, Letters From Texas is a humorous look at politics and current events, as seen through the eyes of a progressive Texan in a bad mood. - See more at: http://www.lettersfromtexas.com/2013/06/the-six-percent.html#sthash.I4PjqRBQ.bBxIATAp.dpuf
http://www.lettersfromtexas.com/2013/06/the-six-percent.html
[font size=5]The six percent[/font]
By Harold Cook
Today’s (06-25-13) a big day for Democrats in the state legislature. And at the end of the day, they’ll probably think they won a big one.
Thankfully, they’re working hard to kill a bill which, if it passed, would be among the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation. In fact it’s probably unconstitutional. ....
[FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]Republican officeholders are terrified of their own primary voters[/FONT]. Aside from the stray post-redistricting election here and there, the vast majority of Republican incumbents who lose their re-election efforts do so in the Republican primary – in most district elections and statewide, Democrats have been little threat to them. [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]The pro-life(sic) stance in the abortion debate is the big motivating issue for only one voting segment: Republican primary voters[/FONT].
So who are these voters? Of the 25 million people who live in Texas, it amounts to fewer than 1.5 million people. That’s about [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]six percent of Texans[/FONT].
Six percent. That’s the entire audience Republican officeholders are playing to, while [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]the other 94 percent of Texans look on as spectators to this sham. That six percent are also the folks who have been electing all the statewide officeholders around here for almost 20 years[/FONT], since the only two things a candidate has to do to get elected statewide in Texas are to win in the Republican primary, and to not get hit by a bus until after the general election. The safety and liberty of Texas women is being sold down the river for the sake of that six percent. [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]The legitimately important issues of concern to mainstream Texas families stay on the back burner for the sake of the six percent[/FONT]. And virtually all the public utterances of the Republican leadership in Texas are aimed squarely at attracting the six percent. And that’s exactly how things will continue around here until Democrats win a statewide election, and Republicans suddenly remember [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]the other 94 percent. There are 23.5 million Texans Republicans haven’t had a conversation with in 20 years[/FONT]. But the longer Republicans pander to their precious six percent, the more likely it is that Democrats will be back in the game sooner rather than later. The lack of leadership around here isn’t indicated by Republicans mishandling the clock. It’s best indicated by them ignoring the 94 percent. Thank the House Democrats for their amazing round-the-clock efforts in the last few days in slowing down this legislation. Be grateful for the Senate Democrats standing strong and united yesterday in blocking the rule suspension which would have greased this bill through. [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]Cheer on Senator Wendy Davis today as she hopefully carries the ball over the finish line and kills this bill[/FONT]. But then, after all that, don’t be surprised when the [FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: yellow"]Republicans immediately call a do-over, and legislators are back in Austin for a second special session. Because, dear 94 percenters - the other six percent must be catered to.[/FONT]
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