At first it might seem like a silly question but in view of the Ernest Hewett situation, it needs to be asked.
This is what CT. State Representative Ernest Hewett ACTUALLY said in defending his now infamous “snake under my desk” comment.
According to The Hartford Courant, the New London Democrat told the paper that he
"purposely will not have female interns. My intern now is a male. I want to keep it like that. I've had female interns in the past that sit in my office all day. I thought it was totally weird and I didn't want another."
"That's why I was so leery about staying away from interns," he told The Courant. "I don't know what they're going to give me. They may give me a female, but I don't want a female intern. That may sound sexist but I really don't. That way that keeps me good and that keeps everybody else good." Read full story here
To me, the above statements sound really outrageous, offensive, archaic, and sexist. In fact the word Neanderthal comes to mind.
But I could be wrong so let us do a small experiment and flip it around a bit and pretend that the legislator in question is a white Republican and the intern in question is black. In that case the statement would read as follows.
According to The Hypothetical paper, the imaginary Republican told the paper that he
"purposely will not have black interns. My intern now is a white. I want to keep it like that. I've had black interns in the past that sit in my office all day. I thought it was totally weird and I didn't want another."
"That's why I was so leery about staying away from interns," he told The Hypothetical. "I don't know what they're going to give me. They may give me a black, but I don't want a black intern. That may sound racist but I really don't. That way that keeps me good and that keeps everybody else good."
Would these imaginary comments be okay if they were uttered by a sitting Connecticut lawmaker? Or would they be viewed as outrageous, offensive, archaic, and racist?
If so, then why are the very real comments above that were actually put forth by State Representative Ernest Hewett being ignored, particularly by the many women who are serving and working in and around the Connecticut Legislature?
Is discrimination against women okay in the CT Legislature?
Or does it depend on who is doing the discriminating?
In just reading the above statement (I'm not familiar with anything other than this statement); I could be wrong but it seems to me, he might be anticipating having a problem with being distracted in a sexual context, if he had a women intern in his office. "that keeps me good and that keeps everyone else good."
ReplyDeleteIf he does have a problem or perhaps his spouse might have a problem with him having a conflict in relationships with women based on his history. Shouldn't he have the right to select whom he chooses for his intern.
I think the racial analogy might be out of context. Perhaps an analogy using a homosexual, and his discomfort with being in a close proximity relationship might be more apropo.
Show me a human being who has no prejudices and I'll show you a liar. Everyone prejudges in one way or another.
If a beautiful women, a very attractive women, applied to be his intern and he was in awe of her beauty, he might "prejudge" that there might be a problem in the future should he select her.
With you permission, we would like to republish your essay and link back on our blog Mr. Winlsey- very well said! Many thanks!
ReplyDeleteMiddletown Insider Staff