New Republic – Eight Essays On Sexual Discrimination And Harassment In D.C., Across Politics, Policy, And The Media, February 8, 2018. Elizabeth Drew, Ana Marie Cox, Sarah Jones, Eve Fairbanks, Heather Boushey, Ai-jen Poo, Monica Potts, Jill Abramson:

“…Last year, a number of congressmen were either forced to resign or got out, taking sudden retirement or announcing that they wouldn’t run for reelection. The most famous case of a House member’s past catching up with him was that of now-former Michigan Representative John Conyers. At 88, Conyers was the longest-serving member of the House and the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, which meant that if the Democrats won the House this November he’d be the next committee chairman, and this must have alarmed the party leaders since, among other things, Conyers was displaying signs of senility, showing up at a congressional meeting in his pajamas and the like. But eventually Conyers was forced out by the House leaders, with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi making the public and private case that Conyers had to resign. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), of which Conyers had been a founder, were upset that he was forced out…As the United States faces up to the prevalence and impact of sexual misconduct in the workplace, the consistent story we have heard from survivors, time and again, is one of power imbalance. Actual or perceived, the distance between power held by men and by women in this country has directly resulted in cycles of harassment, misconduct, and abuse from which our society has looked away for decades. Imagine, then, the breeding ground for abuse created in the nation’s capital by some of the world’s most powerful men—and it is usually men—for the domestic workers laboring behind the closed doors of their Washington residences…”

See also The Atlantic – Why Didn’t the White House See Domestic Violence as Disqualifying?..That the president’s staff was unable to recognize the seriousness of the allegations against Rob Porter may reflect how many members of his team have faced similar claims…”