Michael Bloomberg’s candidacy has brought sexual misconduct to the fore again – with Elizabeth Warren facilitating the charge. According to Bloomberg, he has told bawdy jokes. He regrets and is embarrassed by them. But, he explained on The View, “that’s the way I grew up.”
Maybe so. But he is grown up and has been for a considerable amount of time. What voters need to know is just how deeply this problem is rooted. And whether what he has said to and about women are jokes at all.
Emily Martin, vice president for education and workplace justice at the National Women’s Law Center, explained: “When the leader of an organization has a pattern of making sexist remarks, whether they’re framed as jokes or whether they’re framed as putdowns, that not only impacts the immediate target of those remarks, it’s a message that goes to the organization as a whole.”
If we look at the Spectrum of Sexual Misconduct at Work (SSMW) that I developed to help assess levels of gender-offensive behavior, the concerning comments alone alleged to have been made by Bloomberg aren’t level 1 or 2 offenses – not even level 3. You can read about a range of them here.
Placing them on the Spectrum, it’s difficult to see how any of the examples commonly shared in the press are any lower than level 4, (Highly Offensive), and to the extent that they involve denigration of women the better fit is potentially level 5 (Evident Sexual Misconduct) of the 6 levels ending in Egregious Sexual Misconduct.
Yes, Michael Bloomberg’s philanthropic endeavors are laudable. But is Warren right? Will we be hearing the “drip, drip, drip” of serious sexual misconduct after he becomes the Democratic Party candidate? Is there a reasonable likelihood of this? In either case, he and his team should take a hard look at the SSMW, stop the bobbing and weaving, and honestly face the music now.
I think this subject matter will be interpreted differently by age. I, a woman of 78, can not punish a person for what they said or did in their past lives when such bad behavior was the culture of the times. Having lived when women were not allowed to vote, some not allowed to be educated and when lives of women were denigrated in all forms, it is easier for me to forgive antiquated thinking. If a Michael Bloomberg continued to hold on to such harmful beliefs then we must criticize such current diminished thinking. But, he asks for forgiveness and shows that he know longer holds those beliefs. And while sometimes old habits fail him, and a sexist remark escapes his lips, I believe he is trying to be a better person in the 21st century. Forgiveness is divine.
Very thoughtful and thought-provoking comment, Anita. Best, Kathleen