Monica Lewinsky was 21 years old when she moved to Washington D.C. in 1995 for an unpaid internship in the White House under former President Bill Clinton. As a young woman, Lewinsky landed the internship of a lifetime working with the Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta.
As a 21-year-old almost college graduate interested in politics, I resonate a lot with Lewinsky and her career ambitions. However, in 1998, when news broke of her “relationship” with Clinton, her career was ruined before it had even really started.
I think Lewinsky was treated unfairly by the press because she is a woman. Everyone seems to forget that there was probably a lot of pressure on Lewinsky to impress the President of the United States, and being pursued by a man with the highest position in the country was probably nerve-wracking.
Clinton had already been accused of sexual harassment by other women, such as Paula Jones, who claimed that he exposed himself to her in 1991, only four years before Lewinsky started working closely with him.
As a 50-year-old married man, also literally the president, Clinton should have known not to pursue someone less than half his age. And if that were not despicable enough, he then lies over and over about the affair and then lets Lewinsky, a young woman in her 20s, take the majority of the heat.
Nearly 25 years later, I am coming to Lewinsky’s rescue to say that she is not any of the negative words that she has been called in the press, but is truly a victim.
With that said, I am not absolving Lewinsky of all of the blame. Obviously, I was not there, and I have no idea who actually pursued who first or what the whole situation was, but I do know that a young woman did not deserve to take the heat that Lewinsky did.
According to Vanity Fair, in 1998, media outlets called the situation “The Lewinsky Scandal,” which is insane when the other participant is literally the president of the United States. In the grand scheme of things, Lewinsky was genuinely just a girl. Not that she isn’t intelligent and important, but comparatively, it was a girl just starting her career versus the president, and yet the title of the scandal fell to her, which is just a touch ridiculous.
Lewinsky has taken the blame; she has made many comments on X, formerly known as Twitter, posting about mistakes she has made, but the consistency with which she was demonized by people is disheartening.
“He could have made it right with the book, ” said Lewinsky. “But he hasn’t. He is a revisionist of history. He has lied.”
I am genuinely so glad that Clinton was impeached. I think it is crazy considering who else we let into office, but I think he needed some consequences for being such a creep. Lewinsky’s life and reputation were irreparably damaged, and I am glad that Clinton also had to feel some of that heat.
In the Hillary Clinton Hulu docuseries, “Hillary,” the president equated the affair to something to take his mind off of a stressful situation; he also said it was stupid and knew, even at the time, it was a bad decision that he decided to make anyway.
Honestly, if I were not so angry at Clinton’s lack of apology to Lewinsky and his refusal to offer any protection to this young woman that he absolutely took advantage of, I would be more opposed to his impeachment.
I think Lewinsky being forced to take the blame for a scandal between her and an incredibly more powerful, older and influential white man is just one famous example of how women everywhere are often used as the scapegoat for situations caused by men.
