Monica Lewinsky launched a PR plan to reclaim her picture ten years ago this month. She had just turned 40 and wanted to turn the site from being known as Bill Clinton’s event companion and rename herself as an anti-cyberbullying activist, calling herself “patient zero” for virtual reputation assassination.  ,
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After all, in the days, weeks— and perhaps years — after the Clinton incident, Lewinsky remained a joke. Whenever Jay Leno, David Letterman, or any other late-night artist needed a low laugh with vulgar physical overtones, talking to Monica, cigars, and her soiled blue dress became a bribe code for the ha-ha’s.
And to be honest, a lot of those jokes were pretty funny. In the late 1990s, Jay Leno had 14.962 million people for a second show ( Jerry Seinfeld was his host ). At the time, America’s populace was about 250 million.
Now, the U. S. people is over 333.3 million … and Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Kimmel’s mixed scores are less than 5 million!
Late-night Television has been hemorrhaging people for a variety of reasons, but it’s also correct that Leno and Letterman were effective because they provided the kind of pleasure we sought at the time.  ,
We all voted, in nature, with our TV rural settings.
So even though it’s horribly convenient to blame Leno and Letterman for “bullying” Monica with their off-color gags, they were evidently performing for an eager, sympathetic market. And besides, what’s worse: The actor who tells the joke… or the person watching his Television who giggles at’ em?
I honestly do n’t know.
The# MeToo and/or# TimesUp activities have risen since then, culminating in the throwing of animals like Harvey Weinstein in a jail cell. It’s triggered a historical reevaluation of discrimination, gender roles, and the concept of “punching down” versus “punching up”. The same late-night comedians who made a lot of money from their sexual Lewinsky one-liners immediately sought repentance and regrettance for picking on Monica.
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Does Monica Lewinsky, however, earn apologie?
In many ways, she’s a friendly number: There are very few traditional analogies of a private member immediately being blamed/credited/despised for endangering a senator, culminating in a location impeachment trial. That’s a helluva spicy meatball, folks! There’s a long list of “other ladies” for powerful politicians, despots, and kings, but seldom with these repercussions. Monica Lewinsky belongs to a class of her own.
There’s also a stark contrast in age and power.
Today, Monica Lewinsky is 51. She is actually older than Bill Clinton was when their relationship first broke out in 1997. He was 49, she was in her early 20s. She was a low-level intern, he ran the Oval Office and had his finger on The Button.
Afterward, her last name became a street-level euphemism for a very specific sexual act. By her own account, it was devastating and humiliating. With the possible exception of Montezuma II, the ninth king of the Aztec Empire — whose name (” Montezuma’s revenge” ) later became synonymous with traveler’s diarrhea ( probably not how he hoped to be remembered ) — I ca n’t imagine a worse legacy for someone’s name.  ,
Although Alexander the Macedonian and Catherine in Russia are both praised for being GREAT, Montezuma and Monica are sadly forgotten in popular culture for something… *less eloquent*. So I ca n’t really blame her for being annoyed — or trying to change her legacy now, today, while she’s still on this earth.
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However, it still does n’t change the fact that Monica Lewinsky was a teenager at the time.  ,
She was 22 when the affair began. And her actions had serious political consequences. She intentionally made an effort to attract Bill Clinton’s sexual attention by flashing her thong at him. And she absolutely, 100 % knew he was married. Nobody contests any of this.
The sordidness of the cigars, stains, and dresses has overshadowed the historical timeline, but people forget how dangerous the situation was: Bill Clinton campaigned for president in 1992 on the premise that Republicans were anti-women and pro-sexual harassment. Following the Clarence Thomas vs. Anita Hill confirmation hearings, the all-male judiciary committee in the Senate, which included Joe Biden, evaluated Anita Hill’s credibility.
Naturally, the media denounced it as sexism.
Liberals began pushing for new legislation. Post-Thomas, they argued, it’s imperative that we change the law so the accused’s past conduct is investigated, scrutinized, and introduced into evidence in sexual harassment cases. ( Generally speaking, a defendant’s prior conduct and/or past crimes is deemed too prejudicial to be included in new trials. ) However, liberals argued that there should be an exception for sexual harassment because it always occurs in a pattern, so OF COURSE we must also include a defendant’s history of conduct!
Bill Clinton backed and campaigned for this law.  , He signed it into law in 1994. The Violence Against Women Act is what it is.
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A state employee from Arkansas named Paula Jones filed a lawsuit against Clinton for sexual harassment under the VAWA shortly after. And with the VAWA, Bill Clinton’s history of workplace behavior, which included patterns of inappropriate conduct with subordinates, suddenly came into focus. Lewinsky was uncovered by Jones ‘ legal team, who subpoenaed her somewhere along the way.
Bill Clinton intervened… and directly coached Monica to lie under oath. That VAWA law that he fought for, criticized Republicans over, and was ultimately passed into law? It must have been intended to apply to everyone else, not just Slick Willy.
In other words, the Executive Branch misused its authority to denigrate the judiciary and prevent a sexually abused woman from receiving her constitutional rights.
Since our legal system relies on precedent, ignoring Clinton’s transgressions carried frightening, far-reaching consequences. From America’s beginning, our Founding Father’s greatest fear was that one man might consolidate too much power and become a tyrant. They came up with the idea of a separation of powers to stop this. With different branches of government serving as a check on one another, they reasoned, America would always be free.
Despite this, Bill Clinton directed the resources of the Executive Branch to stifle the Judicial Branch. It was a clear attempt to defy the separation of powers for personal gain. If it had gone unchecked, the precedent would’ve fundamentally altered our country.
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It’s fine to have sympathy for Monica Lewinsky’s plight. I feel bad for her as a fellow human, just like many of you. When Monica was a little girl, daydreaming about being a grownup, I’m sure this was n’t the legacy she wanted!
But I’m also not going to infantilize a 22-year-old woman who’s working in the White House. That’s a Big Person Job that requires Big Person accountability. And look, if you’re gonna flash your panties at your boss, have an affair with a married man, lie under oath, and trigger a constitutional crisis, it’s fair game for Jay Leno to make a few jokes.
Yes, Monica Lewinsky was a victim. But it still does n’t change the fact that she was a villain, too.