For Women in Congress, the State of the Union Is a #MeToo Moment

Inside the decision to take a sartorial stand on the most-watched night in Washington.
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Ann Kuster was a 23-year-old aide on Capitol Hill, wide-eyed and ready to take on the world, when she got word of what sounded like a great opportunity. A groundbreaking heart surgeon was visiting, and she was invited to meet him. The encounter was not what she’d envisioned. During the dinner, the distinguished guest slid his hand up her skirt. “I was just so stunned, I froze,” she said. “I just sat there until he moved his hand.”

That incident happened in 1979. But nearly 40 years later, stories of sexual misconduct in the workplace are as relevant—and widespread—as ever. And in the eyes of Kuster, who is now a member of Congress herself, this moment of collective reckoning over issues of abuse and power is long overdue.

“It makes me furious that it didn’t change,” the New Hampshire Democrat told Glamour. “I thought we were breaking these barriers entering these careers and we just had to keep our head down and take whatever came our way and do excellent work, and that the women who came after us would have a better path. It never occurred to me that one of the barriers [women today] would be facing was inappropriate sexual conduct in the workplace.”

That stark reality has inspired Kuster and other members to take a sartorial stand against sexual violence during one of the most-watched nights in Washington. She is one of dozens of Democratic women planning to wearing black to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday to show support for the #MeToo movement.

Organizers hope the protest, inspired by the 2018 Golden Globes red carpet, will keep the issue of sexual misconduct front and center as the nation tunes in to hear the President speak.

“Black has become the color of solidarity for women in the country right now to show this movement is real,” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) told Glamour. “Every person needs to feel safe at work, and we’ve got to look forward to how we do that and how we really change the climate.”

Using the State of the Union to make a statement isn’t a new tactic for members in the audience. Just last year, during Trump’s first presidential address to Congress, a group of Democratic women wore white in honor of suffragettes and Hillary Clinton’s historic run for the White House. In past years, members wore green ribbons in remembrance of victims of gun violence and raised fingers smudged with purple ink in support of Democratic elections in Iraq.

But this protest has the potential to be particularly poignant, given the moment and the political backdrop. Since The New York Times published its bombshell investigation into Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in October, stories of abuse have emerged in virtually every industry. Congress, too, has been swept up in the #MeToo tidal wave—a number of members have faced misconduct allegations, and several have resigned or announced that they won’t run for reelection. There’s also the symbolism of staging the protest in front of a president who has himself been accused of harassment or inappropriate behavior by more than a dozen women.

Rep. Barbara Lawrence, who helped organize the protest as vice chair of the Democratic Women’s Working Group, said members are “absolutely sending a message to the President of the United States” with their attire.

“He too has been blamed, and he has not to this day acknowledged those [allegations],” the Michigan Democrat said. “This message is that no one’s exempt—not your title, not your position of power. This is the time in America for confronting this.”

Lawrence said she expects the majority of Democratic women to participate in the protest on Tuesday (several Democratic men will also join by wearing black ties or jackets, members said). Some are going beyond wearing black. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are urging colleagues to don red pins in memory of Recy Taylor, an African-American woman who spoke out after she was raped in the 1940s, and cloths to stand with nations reportedly denigrated as “shithole” countries by Trump in a private meeting on immigration.

Several representatives are also inviting advocates and survivors as guests. Kuster is bringing Chessy Prout, whose experience of being sexually assaulted at a New England prep school made national headlines. Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) is giving her guest ticket to a woman who lost her job after speaking up about harassment at a major Boston airport.

“I’m wearing black [for] women working in jobs where they don’t have an alternative, where despite suffering harassment, they are often the primary breadwinner and so often don’t have a voice,” Clark told Glamour. “We want women to be safe in Hollywood, but we also want to protect women who do not have jobs that pay well or jobs that are considered glamorous. To those who are underrepresented in the political process, we’re saying that we’re standing with you and we see you.”

While the efforts will most certainly fuel headlines and talking points, keeping the #MeToo movement in the spotlight for the news cycle that follows Trump’s address, black dresses and red lapel pins alone won’t be enough to fix a problem as big and pervasive as sexual harassment and assault.

“There will be stories that will pop up about it, and it will be successful in a sense,” professor Donna Hoffman, head of the political science department at the University of Northern Iowa and author of Addressing the State of the Union: The Evolution and Impact of the President's Big Speech, said of the protest. “The question is how much farther does that go in being linked to policy change and the bigger movement.”

Making that link—and making it last—won’t be easy, according to Jessica Levinson, a political observer and professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. “The people who are watching the State of the Union are already politically engaged and they already have a view on this issue, they’re already Democrats or Republicans,” she says. “The statements will do what so many things do in American politics today, which is, it will solidify what people already think. It will give more fodder to people on either side.”

Members of Congress say they’re cognizant of the challenges ahead and committed to fighting for change. Kuster, who was inspired to come forward with her own experiences after hearing from other survivors, said one hope is that the symbolic move will help chip away at the culture of silence that has allowed harassment to continue unchecked.

Dingell, too, recalled hearing from dozens of women after she spoke publicly her own story of being harassed by a high-level politician. For many, the fear of losing a job or being labeled a troublemaker if they spoke out was all too real. “What people don’t realize is there are still consequences for a lot of people [who come forward],” Dingell said. “Honestly, we’re going to have to work very hard…to really change the culture. We’ve got to work together as men and women.”

Sexual assault isn’t a partisan issue, and achieving real change will take working across the aisle, especially when it comes to reforming the handling of sexual harassment claims on Capitol Hill. The Democratic Women’s Working Group invited all members to join them in the protest, but it’s unclear if any Republicans will participate. Organizers said they have not received commitments from GOP colleagues, and several offices contacted by Glamour did not respond to requests for comment.

But there are other signs that both parties will come together to address the broader issue at hand. Legislation to enact internal reforms on handling of sexual harassment claims has support on both sides of the aisle.. Several offices, including Kuster’s, are also testing out more stringent anti-harassment trainings.

And regardless of what happens Tuesday, Democratic women say they see the State of the Union as just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to pushing for real and lasting change.

“We keep referring to it as a moment, but it’s bigger than a moment—it’s a movement,” Kuster said. “A moment suggests it’s going to pass quickly and we’ll all be satisfied. A movement implies that we’re not going away until it’s done.”