Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged people “to be a little bit careful” when responding to the #MeToo movement, saying during an interview Saturday on CNN’s “The Axe Files” that women should not be turned into “snowflakes.”
Rice, the first African-American woman to serve as secretary of state, told CNN’s David Axelrod she believes the #MeToo movement is “a good thing” because it gives women who suffer from sexual misconduct a voice while holding perpetrators accountable. But Rice warned people not to get too carried away, as the #MeToo movement could have unintended consequences.
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“Let’s not turn women into snowflakes. Let’s not infantilize women,” said Rice, noting she didn’t want “to get to a place that men start to think, ‘Well, maybe it’s just better not to have women around.’ I’ve heard a little bit of that. And it worries me.”
Rice told Axelrod she didn’t want to “belittle” women who suffered from sexual harassment or assault, “because we’re all different.” She said she “certainly had people say inappropriate things” to her over the years.
Related: ‘This Is the Backlash to the #MeToo Movement’
“I’ve certainly had people suggest that maybe we should just go out and — you know — situations in which it was somebody more senior than I,” Rice said. “I’ve never had anyone do anything that I would consider assault. But I don’t know a woman alive who hasn’t had somebody say or do something that was inappropriate at best and aggressive at worst.”
PoliZette writer Kathryn Blackhurst can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter.
(photo credit, homepage image: Secretary Condoleezza Rice India visit, December 3, 2008, CC BY-ND 2.0, by U.S. Embassy New Delhi) Any parties involved in this imagery do not imply endorsement.)
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