Sexism in the Senate

One unproductive response to Gillibrand has been to demand that she name names. "Shouldn't Gillbrand name these Senate guys who fat-shamed her?" tweeted New York Times reporter Nick Confessore. "Doesn't she kind of have a responsibility to name them?"

Oh right, that would be helpful to Gillibrand, the 19 other women in the Senate, and women everywhere. Gillibrand's "responsibility" is to her constituents and the public, and she has been impressively relentless in pursuing the issue of sexual assault, first in the military and now on college campuses, lobbying colleagues to back her proposals. How do you think this would go if she exposed them to public ridicule?

Even gently chiding them in private would be risky; I imagine the male senator ambling away, muttering something under his breath that rhymes with witch. We all face trade-offs between calling out bad behavior and doing our work effectively.

Another reaction, even more troubling, has been to question whether episodes such as the ones Gillibrand describes could possibly happen. Thus, Politico congressional reporter John Bresnahan: "I challenge this story. Sorry, I don't believe it." It didn't take long for Bresnahan wisely, to beat a full retreat. "Completely moronic tweet by me on People magazine piece re Sen. Gillibrand. No excuse for popping off. I apologize," Bresnahan tweeted, but I suspect he was not alone in his skepticism.

Sexism in the Senate is a problem that may be solving itself, thanks to two developments. At 20 women, there is now a significant (if still significantly underrepresented) cadre of female senators. Meanwhile, the older fanny-pinchers are giving way to a new generation of male senators with more experience of women (including their often high-powered wives) in the workplace.

If this sounds Pollyannaish, it tracks with my own workplace experience: Bosses and colleagues today -- even the ones who aren't women! -- are less apt to say offensive things than they were 30 years ago.

More important, it comports with what I have heard privately from female senators. Which is not to take away from the importance of Gillibrand's experience -- just to underscore that it is not destined to be repeated in perpetuity.

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Ruth Marcus' email address is ruthmarcus@washpost.com.