Anita Hill, Vindicated

Lillian McEwen, a former girlfriend of Clarence Thomas, finally comes clean about Thomas’s behavior.

To McEwen, Hill’s allegations that Thomas had pressed her for dates and made lurid sexual references rang familiar.

“He was always actively watching the women he worked with to see if they could be potential partners,” McEwen said matter-of-factly. “It was a hobby of his.”

…

Given that history, she said Hill’s long-ago description of Thomas’s behavior resonated with her.

“He was obsessed with porn,” she said of Thomas, who is now 63. “He would talk about what he had seen in magazines and films, if there was something worth noting.”

…

According to McEwen, Thomas would also tell her about women he encountered at work. He was partial to women with large breasts, she said. In an instance at work, Thomas was so impressed that he asked one woman her bra size, McEwen recalled him telling her.

Little mentioned at the time was the two other women had filed affidavits supporting Hill. One was Angela Thomas, who alleged that Thomas asked her bra size. Anita Hill, by the way, took a polygraph test. Clarence Thomas never did.

The Anita Hill hearings were a shameful chapter in Senate history. Male senators accused Hill of fantasizing and making things up and political operatives (like David Brock at the time) gleefully smeared her name. Thomas got confirmed and he’s voted against the interests of women ever since.

I think I’ve shared with you before that the Anita Hill hearings were a part of my political awakening. I spent many hours arguing with men about sexual harrassment. They told me that Hill should’ve “just quit” if it was so bad while I explained positions with powerful officials don’t grow on trees and he had the power to ruin her career. It’s nice to know that I was right all along (I knew I was anyway). So, thanks Ginni Thomas, for drunk dialing Anita Hill and finally shining a light on Clarence Thomas’s lies and bad behavior.