Other parts of the @AOC speech worth noting: when she made it clear that a) the words did not hurt her or pierce her soul (thereby stripping them of power) and b) are the same words that men have used against her *across context* (so they’re not brave or special)

There is a lot of focus on the other (admittedly brilliant) points raised about men with wives/ daughters not being inherently decent...But for me, the striking piece was her matter-of-fact discussion of the words as simultaneously aggressive yet ineffectual

This is a rhetorical feat, folks. Cause she’s highlighting how these tactics are used to silence women and how they foster a culture of misogyny and violence against women, but also concedes that she herself was not “wounded” by the words.

And by referencing how these words were often thrown at her in bars, it contextualizes them in terms of a lack of self control and inhibitions, which are seen as character flaws in public life.

These references invite us to juxtapose images of drunk men behaving aggressively while she “just is trying to do her job” with Yoho behaving aggressively as she “just is trying to do her job.”

And the takeaway is that she finds it NOT emotionally devastating (better luck next time boys) but personally exhausting. AND ALSO recognizes that this behavior facilitates the silencing of women in public spaces and tells men that disrespecting women is “what we do”

Truly. This needs to be studied in political communication and rhetoric classes.

Just simply brilliant.

And she threaded that needle like a BOSS.