Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to the floor of the House of Representatives on July 23 to respond to a fellow member of Congress, Ted Yoho, who allegedly said to a reporter: “she’s a fucking bitch.”
Prior to that comment, Yoho and AOC had an exchange in which he reportedly said she was “disgusting” for suggesting crime and poverty were leading to a boost in crime in New York City, reported The Hill.
“You are out of your freaking mind,” Yoho said, in addition to allegedly muttering “fucking bitch” as he walked away, per The Hill. In a statement to NBC News, a Yoho spokesman denied that he used that particular slur. “Instead, he made a brief comment to himself as he walked away summarising what he believes her polices to be: bullshit.”
AOC took to the House floor to comment. While she admitted Yoho’s remarks were not “deeply hurtful or piercing” to her, she couldn’t let the example of blatant sexism slide with the world’s eyes watching.
“I could not let go. I could not allow my nieces, I could not allow the little girls I go home to, I could not allow victims of verbal abuse and worse to see that, to see that excuse and to see our Congress accept it as legitimate,” she said. “And to accept it as an apology. And to accept silence as a form of acceptance, I could not allow that to stand.”
“And I do not need Rep. Yoho to apologise to me,” she added. “Clearly, he does not want to. Clearly, when given the opportunity he will not. And I will not stay up late at night waiting for an apology from a man who has no remorse over using abusive language toward women.”
Continuing, AOC noted that she took particular issue to Yoho’s non-apology using his daughters as an excuse.
“And so what I believe is that having a daughter does not make a man decent. Having a wife does not make a decent man. Treating people with dignity and respect makes a decent man,” she said. “Lastly, what I want to express to Mr Yoho is gratitude. I want to thank him for showing the world that you can be a powerful man and accost women. You can have daughters and accost women without remorse. You can be married and accost women.”
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