Lewinsky affair
By Maura Shannon
casts shadow
on all womenAS a woman in my early 20s, I know how hard it is to go up against men in the work force. I do not believe that sex is the way to get ahead.
Monica Lewinsky is a prime example of the reason women don't always get the respect they deserve in the work field. I have been following her case now for months and I do not feel sorry for her at all.
Lewinsky should not have had sex with the President no matter what she thought her actions were going to get her politically. The affair was morally wrong and while the president shares half the blame, her participation was not respectable. I think she was totally in it for her own advancement in office and did not even think about the lives that she and President Clinton were destroying. It is strange to think she is not much older than me.
The mass media is not much better though. They are going to give her $3 million dollars to write a book about how she cost the government $40 million. There are children starving in the world but we are spending this much money on gossip and sleaze. It is a sad world we all live in now.
The morality of the United States has gone down the drain. We have women sleeping with married men that have daughters the mistresses' age and the mistresses sometimes making hundreds of thousands of dollars on these affairs.
Women need to stand up to other women that do these things. I think that Monica Lewinsky gives all working women a bad name. I do not believe that she was taken advantage of or that she did not know what she was doing. I think she just wanted to get ahead without doing the work that is required. I think it was the easy way out.
I do not know how she has respect for herself when she knows that she could have destroyed a family by her actions. For her to have talked about her affair to Linda Tripp is even worse. I think she had this all planned out or she was just really stupid.
The planning part would have made a lot of sense for a woman her age. She conveniently tells a friend who happens to have a big mouth and she "just happens" to keep the dress that shows everything. That would have been a plan for a master.
All too well planned out for Monica though. I think she just made a lot of mistakes and did not know where to go or how to get there except by using her body.
The only woman I feel bad for in this situation is Chelsea Clinton. It has to be totally humiliating for her to have someone almost her age doing things that do not need to be mentioned with her father. It is very embarrassing, and then to have it out in the media is the icing on the cake.
I am not as strong as she seems to be. I see her smiling in the media when she must be crying on the inside. This is the only woman that was wronged in this whole scandal.
Hillary Clinton is a strong woman who knows her husband and has a choice to leave him. As much as I understand for political reasons why she stayed with him, I do not see how much one woman can take before she says enough is enough. I cannot imagine staying with someone who has betrayed me as much as her husband has betrayed her.
This is just an all around mess. There are too many women scorned to make this even come near being acceptable and to think it all started with the President.
The only person who knows if it was really worth it is Monica Lewinsky herself. I guess we will find out when her $3 million dollar book arrives in book stores!
As a young woman I will continue working and will rely on my education to succeed in life. If we all become Monica Lewinskys, what respect in the work force can women ever hope to attain?
Maura Shannon is a student at Kapiolani Community College. Rant & Rave is a Tuesday Star-Bulletin feature
allowing those 12 to 22 to serve up fresh perspectives.
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