Anita Hill Salute

Who in the early 90’s didn't know anything about Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill? Thurgood Marshall passed away, so there was a vacancy on the Supreme Court. George H. W. Bush, then president nominated a Clarence Thomas for the vacancy. Toward the end of the confirmation hearings, a FBI interview with Anita Hill was leaked. Hill, an attorney, had worked for Thomas at the Department of Education and had subsequently moved with Thomas to the EEOC. After the leak, Hill was called to testify at Thomas's confirmation hearings. She testified that Thomas had subjected her to comments of a sexual nature, which she felt constituted sexual harassment or at least "behavior that is unbefitting an individual who will be a member of the Court." Hill was the only person to testify at the Senate hearings that there had been unsolicited sexual advances. The final floor vote was: 41 Republicans and 11 Democrats voted to confirm while 46 Democrats and two Republicans voted to reject the nomination. Newspaper coverage of Thomas's private life was limited after he was confirmed. But more importantly the conversation and laws about sexual harassment have change. For me personally it introduced me into the worlds of Misogyny and The Battle of the Sexes.

I was a young girl in the salon one day when Anita Hill came up. It was the popular topic at the time. Okay, the salon I went to then was half salon and half barber shop. Ms. M and Ms. C were the stylist. Ms. M did my hair then. Ms. C also worked at the Post Office. Mr. L was the barber. Well, that day it was a few men in the barber area and the topic came up. Well Mr. W who was retired from the railroad, said “That Anita Hill ain’t doing nothing but the work for the white man, trying to keep the Black man down”.  Ms. C jumped up and said “Do what? So, you think she’s lying” He said “Yeah, She lying. Sexual Harassment that some White boy sh*t” Before I knew it, I was being rushed under the dryer for 20 minutes by Ms. M and she joined in. After that 20 minutes under the hair dryer, they were still “discussing” that topic. Ms. C was breaking down how men told dirty jokes all the time at the expense of their female colleagues. Sometimes when delivering mail how she had been cat called. Mr. W was steady saying that was different. Ms. M was steady asking how it was any different. Then she called him a hypocrite. She pointed at me and said, “You always telling little girls like her, not to let little boys talk to you anyway and paw at you on the street, but it’s okay for a grown man to do the same then to a grown woman”. I was sitting there thinking (with my nose in a magazine because back then children were seen not heard in adult conversations) “She’s right”. Mr. W was silent after that. But Ms. C. finally said “So it ain’t just White boy sh*t, Black men do some vulgar sh*t too. And that woman was right to tell what he did. Maybe they will give him the “right” clerk in the Supreme Court and he figure how to change his conversation”. And that was the end of discussion and I finished getting my hair done by Ms. M and Mr. L went back to cutting another man’s hair. Yeah I missed the middle, but I have a feeling I came in on the important parts.

I don’t know what it is about men that think they can say any old thing to women. Cat Calling, Dirty Jokes, and random inappropriate touching are some of the most vulgar things women must endure from men. Ms. M was right. Many older men like Mr. W would tell girls and young women not to let guys do those things. My grandfather constantly drilled us not to answer to some guy honking his horn at us and warned my male cousins not to honk their horns at women. That was rare. Most men didn’t tell the boys anything like that. Boys will be boys was the name of the game and the game is still being played. The same boys that whistle at and hit girls on the butt are same ones that tell filthy jokes and pass dirty emails to their female subordinates. These same men are shocked about being called into HR about sexual harassment. What do you mean they are wrong? They’ve been allowed to act like that for years. After all these sexual harassment laws were passed and a clear definition of sexual harassment was set I playfully thought about suing the boys that slapped me on the butt or touched my breast without being asked. I think that would have gave them the right message that me angrily cussing and punching them was not giving. Yeah, the thought or suing crossed my mind again. D-word court cost is what hinders me.

So yeah, I salute Anita Hill and any woman not taking men’s vulgar crap from them anymore. It may have been on Capitol Hill, a courtroom, HR, a barber shop or a street corner. Women are not having it.  Men need to know that this is not allowed. Everywhere is not a porn film, strip club, bedroom, or the lewdness in their minds. Women should be Respected. Sad, we have to go to these kind of measures to demand it.

As Always, Talking to You in Adult Terms