OPINION | Alexandria Ocasio Cortez's brilliant defense of women seeking power

Ted Yoho insults Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Congress 1:58

Editor's Note: Kara Alaimo, Associate Professor of Public Relations at Hofstra University, is the author of "Pitch, Tweet, or Engage on the Street: How to Practice Global Public Relations and Strategic Communication." She was a spokesman for International Affairs in the Treasury Department during the Obama administration. Follow her on Twitter @karaalaimo. The opinions expressed in this comment are solely those of the author. See more opinion on CNNe.com/opinion

(CNN) - On Monday, Republican Representative Ted Yoho of Florida confronted Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York on the steps of the Capitol with an aggressive and blatantly misogynistic personal attack. Yoho approached Ocasio-Cortez about his position that poverty and unemployment contributed to the increase in crime in New York, and during a brief discussion he said it was "disgusting," according to a reporter for The Hill who heard the exchange. . Ocasio-Cortez replied that he was being rude, and Yoho walked away, saying "p *** bitch." as she walked down the steps, according to Hill reporter Mike Lillis.

Two days later, Yoho stood in the House and apologized for the "abrupt form of the conversation I had with my colleague from New York." He denied using expletives. “Having been married for 45 years and with 2 daughters, I am very aware of my language. The offensive words attributed to me by the press were never spoken to my colleagues and if they were interpreted in this way, I apologize for their misunderstanding, "Yoho said. Bob Cusack, editor-in-chief of The Hill, supported the reports and said, "Our story was and remains 100 percent accurate."

• LOOK: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responds to Ted Yoho: & # 8220; I am also someone's daughter & # 8221;

While Yoho said he was "passionate about those affected by poverty," many women, and quite a few men, know that this confrontation was not really a political difference at all. First, it is important to note that Ocasio-Cortez is right: the link between crime and poverty has been well documented. (Ocasio-Cortez has said it was clear at the virtual town hall earlier this month in which she originally drew the connection that she was referring to minor, non-violent crimes.)

Second, our political system was specifically designed to encourage the representation of different political views in Congress, so it is still unusual to see a member of Congress denigrating himself and the institution verbally attacking another member in this way. Ocasio-Cortez said it had never happened to him before and tweeted: “Believe it or not, I generally get along well with my fellow Republicans. We know how to review our legislative fight at the commission's door. ”

Democratic representatives Rubén Gallego of Arizona and Dean Phillips of Minnesota highlighted the sexism at stake here, tweeting that they had previously expressed the same views on poverty and crime without being approached in the same manner as Ocasio-Cortez. Supposedly, using the word “p ** a” in her surprising violation of decorum, Yoho suggested that what she was really complaining about was that a woman dared to exercise political power.

We know this because his choice of that word (allegedly) is often used to denigrate women for being (in the eyes of the person handling the term) malicious, unpleasant, or selfish. These are also the characteristics used to describe women who dare to seek power, as Kate Manne writes in "Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny". Manne says that when women compete for positions typically held by men, they tend to be portrayed as "morally suspicious." That is why, according to Manne, "aversion and hostility are relatively predictable reactions for women politicians who aspire to occupy the highest office."

On Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez responded to the confrontation by tweeting: "Hey, p ** a do things." Claiming the word and using it to refer to powerful women in a nod to a famous sketch by Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live, Ocasio-Cortez toyed with Yoho's attempt to use the term to punish her for exercising political power as a woman, and brilliantly, she refused to let him do it.

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On Thursday, a day after Yoho's cowardly "no apology," Ocasio-Cortez headed to the Chamber floor to address his fellow congressmen and diverted the conversation from the personal attack toward the broader culture of misogyny women face. in this country. She responded to Yoho while including everyone from President Donald Trump to men on the subway for upholding a culture of “impunity, of accepting violence and violent language against women, and a whole power structure to back it up. "

She also broke down Yoho's saying that he is a family man with a wife and 2 daughters by turning that worn-out defense around. “I am 2 years younger than Mr. Yoho's youngest daughter. I am also someone's daughter. Fortunately, my father is not alive to see how Mr. Yoho treated his daughter. "

She went on to say, “When you do that to any woman, what Mr. Yoho did was give other men permission to do that to their daughters. By using that language, in front of the press, he gave permission to use that language against his wife, his daughters, the women of his community, and I am here to stand up and say that this is not acceptable. "

Here's something else that Americans shouldn't accept: pretending this didn't happen. Representative Roger Williams (Texas) was walking with Yoho throughout the exchange reported by Lillis. However, when asked about it, Williams claimed he was distracted. “I was actually thinking, as I was going down the stairs, about some problems that I have to solve in my district. I don't know what his topic was, ”he said. A man who does not notice that a woman is attacked publicly and personally while simply trying to do his job when it happens before his eyes cannot be trusted to look after the interests of women in general, and therefore has no place to stay in a public office.

Coincidentally, amid a pandemic, presidential election, and an impending economic crisis, Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson decided it was a good use of his airtime this week to report false accusations that Al Jazeera reporter Kimberly Halkett called White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany "p ** a liar" when she actually said, "Okay, you don't want to get involved," a comment backed by both the audio recording and the official White House transcript. .

Interestingly, this unsubstantiated rumor spread by Twitter users was picked up by Carlson, who was willing to denounce the use of a derogatory phrase against a woman, when she was a woman on the right. Carlson, let's not forget, has called women "extremely primitive" and has rated various female celebrities, on several occasions "white p ** as", "c *** y", ugly and sows. (Carlson declined to apologize for his comments when they reappeared last year and simply dismissed the controversy by calling his own comments "naughty.")

When attacking Ocasio-Cortez, Yoho had no facts on his side. He did not handle arguments or studies of politics. Rather, he hurled personal insults at him in an unusual and improper manner from a member of Congress. His reported use of the word "p ** a" can only be described, as Yoho might put it, as gross. But by refusing to accept Yoho's insult and halfhearted apology, Ocasio-Cortez issued a much-needed defense not only of herself, but of all women seeking power.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez