--- title: Caitlin Flanagan: Juanita Broaddrick, Feminism and Clintons description: 'As Democrats, as women, we must ask ourselves: Do we stand with all women who report sexual assault?' canonical: https://time.com/4177436/hillary-clinton-juanita-broaddrick/ author: Caitlin Flanagan article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-21T19:38:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:32.778Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Caitlin Flanagan: Why I Won't Vote for Hillary og:description: 'Do we stand with all women who report sexual assault?' og:url: https://time.com/4177436/hillary-clinton-juanita-broaddrick/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0afa795c74c3b963/698879e1ab6d77b8ea6a80bc/hillary-clinton7.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Hillary Clinton, former U.S. secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, right, stands on stage with husband Bill Clinton, former U.S. president, at the conclusion of the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Oct. 24, og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Caitlin Flanagan: Why I Won't Vote for Hillary twitter:description: 'Do we stand with all women who report sexual assault?' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0afa795c74c3b963/698879e1ab6d77b8ea6a80bc/hillary-clinton7.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why This Democrat Won't Vote for Hillary Clinton > Sponsored content. 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In early voting states like New Hampshire, the hard work of winning elections is often decided by volunteers on the ground._ by [Caitlin Flanagan](https://time.com/author/caitlin-flanagan/) ## Caitlin Flanagan Jan 21, 2016 7:38 PM UTC  Hillary Clinton, former U.S. secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, right, stands on stage with husband Bill Clinton, former U.S. president, at the conclusion of the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Oct. 24, 2015. Hillary Clinton, former U.S. secretary of state and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, right, stands on stage with husband Bill Clinton, former U.S. president, at the conclusion of the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Oct. 24, 2015. Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Caitlin Flanagan](https://time.com/author/caitlin-flanagan/) ## Caitlin Flanagan Jan 21, 2016 7:38 PM UTC The aspect of feminism that affected me on the most powerful, personal level was the idea that when a woman came forward to report that she had been raped we would believe her — publicly and unanimously. I knew what it was like to have a man try to force sex on me; I knew what it was like to arrange my work life so that I could avoid the boorish men who made vulgar sexual remarks in the office. I was always amazed—dazzled—when women were brave enough to come forward and tell others what had happened to them. For years, I’d been too ashamed to tell even my friends about the things I’d experienced. But now, if we all stood together, the force of our public belief in one another could change things. And it did. And it was exciting and big and important. I was proud, then, to use the word “feminist” to describe myself. I remember watching the [Anita Hill trial](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,974098,00.html) in 1991 and burning with indignation at what the committee members were putting her through. I believed her about Clarence Thomas then, and I believe her now: how humiliating it was for her to describe the shaming things that man had said to her. The men on that committee relished making her go through those details over and over again, just as men have done to the women who tell the truth throughout history as a way to humiliate them so deeply that they stop talking, and give up. I was excited about Bill Clinton’s campaign, and I voted for him. I could not have been less concerned about [Gennifer Flowers](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1831856%5F1831858%5F1831873,00.html), who showed up in a press conference to announce she’d been his Little Rock mistress. I don’t care about the private, consensual sex lives of my elected politicians, nor do I care about those of my dentist, accountant or plumber. The nature of the Clinton’s marriage wasn’t my business. Plus, I was then involved in work for abused children, an area to which Hillary had devoted much of her working life. The Clintons seemed to me to be hugely impressive people. But then I heard about [Paula Jones](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1870544%5F1870543%5F1870458,00.html), who came forward with a very different story — of the ugliest type of workplace sexual harassment. I was shocked and I was disgusted, and I believed her. I assumed we _all_ believed her. Wasn’t that how we were changing the country for victims of these kinds of acts? Well… No. Immediately I was told by my lefty friends and by the lefty press that I was foolish, that I was naive, that I didn’t understand politics. Immediately this woman—who had come forward to describe a hideous event—was shamed as a [big-haired](http://www.newsweek.com/clinton-v-paula-jones-171796), no-class hick who was telling a lie for financial gain. It turned out that even radical feminists around would easily believe a woman could lie about sexual harassment for personal gain. There was an exception to believing everyone that I hadn’t grasped right out of the gate. We were going to _choose_ whom to believe. Based on what? Based on the politics and political power of the man accused. If a man’s politics—not his personal behavior, his politics—were deemed to be pro-woman, his accuser would be subject to doubt, and to forensic levels of investigation and titanic public ridicule—even from other women. It turned out that if you dragged a $20 bill through a trailer park, a bunch of lying sluts would show up to grab it. Oh. I voted for Clinton again. Because I was starting to become a little less naive. And because the stock market was rocking, and because when I had a C-section, my insurance paid for [four days in the hospital](http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/final-maternity-length-of-stay-rules-published.aspx) instead of two, which was a special gift to me from Bill Clinton. He was always good with women that way—he knew how to reach into the most intimate moments of a female voter’s life and make her grateful to him. Bill had dragged a four-night hospital stay through a nice neighborhood in Santa Monica, and I had darted out of my duplex apartment to grab it. But then I saw [Juanita Broaddrick](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,990325,00.html) tell her story, and I had a physical reaction. In 1999, she described his visit to her hotel room and the sex he forced on her. I sat in my living room watching her describe that rape and I thought: “She’s telling the truth.” My response was not considered; it was visceral. If it’s possible that one woman can listen to another woman tell her story of rape and just sort of _know_ that she’s telling the truth, I had that reaction. But by then, I had learned to doubt. By then I had learned to ask questions I never had asked about rape victims before. Why had she waited so long to tell the story publicly? Why had she chosen that particular moment? Why did small details not add up? What did she stand to gain from telling it? The Clinton machine taught me to ask those questions of rape victims. What did Hillary know, and when did she know it? She must have known a lot, and she must have known it early on. She knew that the kind of women who vote for Democrats care about three or four huge issues—abortion above all—and that if you stay on the right side of those three or four issues, much will be forgiven, or overlooked, or disbelieved. In short, Hillary understood politics, at its most base and distasteful level. So when Hillary Clinton [tells you](https://twitter.com/hillaryclinton/status/668597149291184128) that “every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed and supported,” realize that what she’s serving up is a classic Clinton dodge. She’s not saying that every woman who reports a sexual assault deserves to be believed. In that case, we would have to believe Paula Jones and Juanita Broaddrick. And everyone knows—they’re just crazy. Now young Democrat women voters have been handed this whole sorry mess to sort out. As a group, they tend to have a low opinion of people who marginalize and ridicule women who report sexual assault. Ditto people who promulgate the ugly old notion that women are likely to lie about rape if they can find a way to profit (emotionally or financially) from it. But will these young women risk a Republican presidency so that they can send a loud message about discrediting rape survivors? Or will they grow up and accept the nasty business of politics? According to the [New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/21/us/politics/90s-scandals-threaten-to-erode-hillary-clintons-strength-with-women.html), Lena Dunham is one young woman who’s seen the bigger picture. In public, she’s a vocal Hillary supporter—a smart-bomb directed right at the happening young women Clinton needs in the tent. But in private, says the _Times_, she knows exactly who—and what—she is endorsing. At a recent, private dinner party—held in a plutocrat’s Park Avenue penthouse, as far from the trailer park as you can get—she supposedly admitted that she was “disturbed” by the Clintons’ treatment of women who came forward in the 1990’s. (Dunham’s spokesperson said the quote was a “mischaracterization” of her comments.) As Democrats, as women, we must ask ourselves: Do we stand with the women who report sexual assault—all women: big-haired, “slutty,” trailer-park, _all_ of them—or do we stand, once again, with the Clinton machine and its Arkansas _droit du seigneur_? When I was young, my father told me what his father told him: If I got in the voting booth and so much as reached for the Republican lever, the hand of God would come into that voting booth and strike me dead. I’m not taking any chances. But I won’t vote for a candidate who helped “destroy” the credibility of women who came forward to report that they had been preyed upon sexually by a powerful man. This year, for the first time in my voting life, I’m staying home. ## Transcript [ BLANK_AUDIO ] 30 days to the primary, every second counts. We're hoping that this will prove our tenacity and we're willing to not only go out here and knock on doors, but knock on doors in awful weather because That's how strongly we feel about this campaign. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Three weeks to go now until the first votes are cast in the 2016 presidential race. But the bigger surprise right here, Sanders is closing in on Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders deadlocked. Sanders is out for And that has her campaign admitting they are nervous. [ APPLAUSE ] People hearing the message directly from the senator is wonderful, but we can't have a rally every day. The conversations that matter to me are the ones that are happening between individuals. Because at the end of the day, that's what wins an election. If they're home. [ SOUND ] I think the best I ever did was 61 houses. And I think I got 7 commit cards. Which was pretty good. We've had a big push in the past 60 days. My job is not to convince people to change their vote, I'm just there to give them information. Hi. Hi. Mr. Thorner? And also, it's to inform people what day the Primary is on. Should be, here. [ SOUND ] I remember, I think it was about six years ago now, there was one. Disheveled crazy looking guy on floor of the Senate who gave a 10 and a half hour filibuster about how stupid the Bush tax cuts were. And I remember seeing that, being like, this dude is the only dude in the Senate with guts and this is exactly what I believe in. And I started following a little bit more about who is he was and everything I heard him say, I agreed with and loved. Like everything. Well, we're just out here for Bernie, because we believe that he's one of the most different candidates. That can really revolutionize- This is the grind, yes, this is where it's won. Those are the most effective and persuasive ways of talking to voters. All right, whose next? Yesterday alone we knocked on 17, 000 doors. Watch the ice. One day, 17, 000 doors. We're from the Bernie Sanders campaign and we were just wondering if you were planning on voting in the primary on February 9th. [ INAUDIBLE ] Hilary in the primary. Definitely. Wonderful. Be voting for both of you. Great. Leaning strongly in her favor? I'm still not sure. I love Bernie Sanders. Most of us do Who are in this part of the country. But there's some drawbacks, too. I'm torn- She's a woman with very strong convictions just like Bernie- That I admire. And she's stuck to them, but now she's moderated them to say well, I can meet the Republicans halfway. And I don't know what will happen if Bernie can't meet them halfway. I'm not sure that he would Even have a chance of [ CROSSTALK ] Yes, yeah. That's what I'm really worried. The worries that people have about his electability should have really disappeared by now. All these people that no other candidate would get should come out and vote for them Bernie's got those people. And people that haven't voted in 20 years. And I've seen them in the office making calls. I've seen them stepping up and doing stuff. And I think Bernie talks the talk and walks the walk. One of the reasons that I'm really For Hilary is because of the Affordable Care Act and I think she will not only keep it, but improve on it. I've had breast cancer, my husband's had prostate cancer, my son has treatable epilepsy. She's just right on for people from birth to death. If we get that win by three points or five points or whatever, it's gonna be us on On the ground making that difference, creating that margin, and that's what it's about. Doing it three times this week, because we're getting close to the wire. I definitely will do it the remainder of the Saturdays and possibly some of the Sundays. Then I have said that I'll come in two nights a week to make calls Bye. [ LAUGH ] See if we could get the dogs to vote, we'd be doing really just right. 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