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The Heart and Beauty of AOC’s Response: Individual Apologies Have Nothing to do with Ending Sexism
When Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to the House floor last Thursday to address the widespread sexism at work in the halls of Congress and deeply embedded in American culture and society, she had to suspect her remarks would garner some media attention.
After all, Republican Representative Ted Yoho, while walking with fellow Representative Roger Williams on Capitol steps, had not only called her “disgusting” for voicing views that crime was linked to poverty, but followed up this insult by calling her a “fucking bitch” — right there on the Capitol steps in front of reporters.
Shocking, right? Explosive, wouldn’t you say? This is a news story right up there with Donald Trump talking about grabbing women’s genitalia.
Well, for Ocasio-Cortez, this behavior wasn’t really the story, and while this encounter with Yoho and his sexist display have received a mountain of media coverage, it is worth listening closely to Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks to capture their full intelligence and beauty as well as their perhaps not-so-obvious insights about sexism and broader discrimination and dehumanization in U.S. society and culture.
