USA: A Response to Rush Limbaugh’s Comments on Street Harassment

Kathleen Moyer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

On Wednesday, First Lady Michelle Obama delivered a powerful speech in Argentina for her “Let Girls Learn” initiative. During the speech, she shared her experiences with street harassment and how she overcame those experiences by strengthening her voice through education. While her speech inspired people around the world, conservative radio host and infamous misogynist Rush Limbaugh felt that he had to set the record straight about women and street harassment.

Whether the issue is street harassment, birth control, domestic violence, abortion, our appearance, or our needs, Limbaugh always seems to know what’s best for women. Below are four comments made by Limbaugh during his radio show on Thursday, in response to Obama’s speech and the issue of street harassment, as well as my responses to those comments.

“She’s sitting as first lady of the United States and she can’t get past it, she can’t get over it, I’m telling you these people are bitter. They have not gotten over it, all of this is personal, and they haven’t gotten rid of their anger.”

Yes, we’re bitter. If Limbaugh were ogled, groped, and followed down the street by strangers, from the time he hit puberty, he would understand why we’re bitter. The reason why we don’t “get over it” is because it seems to be a never-ending problem. Women of all ages, in all areas of the world are affected by street harassment, to the point where it’s just seen by many as part of being a woman. We can’t get over a problem when that problem, itself, is never over.

First Ladies, like Michelle Obama, are not free from harassment either. With her Secret Service detail, she may not have people yelling obscene things at her anymore, but she still has many strangers commenting on her body and her clothing on the internet regularly. Limbaugh says that she hasn’t been able to “get past it”, but he seems to have missed the point she was making. Although she has experienced street harassment throughout her life, she has not allowed the way others have viewed her to define her. Instead, she has listened to her own voice, and I believe that’s how many women overcome the harassment they are faced with.

“Here’s the bit about sexism, do you know how many women would love being whistled at walking down the street?”

Probably the same number of women who enjoy listening to this sexist drivel. Believe it or not, women like to walk in public without being objectified and threatened by strangers. Some women find it irritating, some find it aggravating, and some find it frightening, but very few women find it flattering. Having to hold your keys like a weapon or carry pepper spray or a taser in order to walk safely in public is not an enjoyable experience.

If Limbaugh’s claim that women love street harassment were correct, I wouldn’t be writing this and organizations like Stop Street Harassment wouldn’t exist.

“Okay you have your average American construction site, and you have your average American construction worker, and every woman in the world knows you go walking by there, you’re going to get whistled at. And yet they walked by.”

If a woman happens to be walking by a construction site, why should she have to go out of her way in order to avoid being the target of sexual comments? This statement clearly exhibits victim blaming. Limbaugh’s logic that it’s a woman’s fault if she is harassed at a construction site is the same logic that has been perpetuating rape culture for years. If street harassment at construction sites is so common that Limbaugh just assumes that it will happen, women walking by are not the problem. In addition to this comment fueling the toxic practice of victim blaming, it is also an unfair generalization of construction workers. Surely not all construction workers share the misogynistic beliefs of Limbaugh. I’d like to believe that the majority of people agree that no one asks to be harassed by simply existing in public.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Obama, but God made me a man, and as such I can’t help noticing a woman who I think is attractive. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to shut up and not tell her so.”

Everything about this argument is wrong. Firstly, the idea that men cannot help harassing women is harmful and completely ungrounded. Plenty of men go out in public, every day, and manage not to harass anyone. It’s called being a decent human being. Implying that men are incapable of this is sexist and promotes the practice of not holding harassers and abuses accountable for their actions.

Secondly, Limbaugh’s refusal to stop harassing women is despicable. If someone does something that makes another person feel uncomfortable or threatened, he/she should stop immediately, without question. Limbaugh’s inability or unwillingness to grasp this shows that he puts his desire to reduce women to sexual objects above women’s safety. This idea is at the core of the problem of street harassment.

While reading Limbaugh’s comments, it occurred me that he may have simply said these reprehensible things for publicity. Despite this, I chose to write a response to his remarks, because I’ve heard his arguments echoed by others on a regular basis. If these ideas were limited to Limbaugh, they would not have a significant impact, but because many others share these adverse opinions, they must be addressed and debunked.

The first step in ending street harassment is thinking critically about this issue and making our voices heard, as suggested by Michelle Obama.

Kathleen is a full-time graduate student studying professional and business communication. She plans initiatives to increase awareness of sexual assault, domestic violence, and other related issues through her university’s anti-sexual violence group, Explorers Against Sexual Violence.