By Mary Kay Roth
This week a Nebraska state senator most certainly sexualized – and, in some sense, sexually assaulted – every woman in Nebraska.
During debate on the floor of the Nebraska Legislature – concerning a ludicrous proposal to criminalize librarians – State Sen. Steve Halloran read aloud a graphic rape scene excerpted from the courageous memoir, “Lucky,” while several times inserting the name “Sen. Cavanaugh” into his reading.
Selectively choosing the most salacious sections, Halloran was clearly referring to State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh in repeatedly injecting her name – including a passage that made it appear Halloran was directing Cavanaugh to perform oral sex on him.
Several days later, I determined to force myself to watch the vicious video of this despicable, abusive performance. And as I listened, I could actually hear my own name inserted, my daughter’s name, the names of my friends.
When Halloran addresses the Nebraska Unicameral, he is addressing everyone in our state. He is addressing every woman in our state. And he abused and assaulted every one of us.
This was personal for me. This was brutal.
Here’s what one Lincoln woman – a friend of mine who hails from western Nebraska – had to say: “Sen. Halloran forced every person in that hearing room to participate in an assault on another human being. No one in that room consented to hear the content read aloud ... and hear a woman degraded, embarrassed and humiliated.”
It appears unclear the State Legislature will have the spine to take any meaningful action, censure or dismissal against this arrogant, misogynist tyrant.
So, in the past few days, I felt compelled to check in with women in my orbit, a broad swath of ages, ethnicities, professions. I have chosen not to use their names in this blog, as I asked for naked truth.
But, bless them all, they agreed to help me send a message:
Dear Sen. Cavanaugh, We don’t know you. We have only admired you from afar. But please know you are not alone in this fight. Multitudes of women stand with you. This behavior can no longer be given a pass. It must end. Now.
A woman who worked in the local school system sent me this message: “Clearly, he thoroughly enjoyed reading this passage, totally out of context, out loud, and inserting Cavanaugh’s name. As far as I’m concerned this was a shameful act of sexual aggression on his part. His disgusting behavior is traumatizing to anyone who has been a victim of sexual assault.”
And here's what I heard from someone with a long-term career in Nebraska state government: “It's another example of privileged white men/policy makers speaking and acting without suffering any consequences from their peers. As elected officials they should be held to a higher standard of respectful behavior and speech.”
When Cavanaugh finally had a chance to respond to Halloran, she spoke through tears, saying his words were among the cruelest she has experienced during her time as a state senator – words particularly damaging to anyone with experiences of sexual violence.
Since that evening, Halloran has issued a half-hearted, pathetic and worthless apology, refusing to resign and listing a number of lame excuses.
Here's the response from a Lincoln woman who often serves as a citizen advocate: “I am appalled, sickened, disheartened, nauseated. And his weak attempt to explain it away only increased my fury … A person of any good moral character would certainly demonstrate an ability to self-reflect and learn and admit their deplorable action.”
Instead, Halloran made the bizarre claim that the book he was quoting from is a how-to rape manual – as opposed to the truly brave 1999 memoir of Alice Sebold, a woman who agonizingly describes her experience of being brutally raped and beaten when she was an 18-year-old student at Syracuse University in New York.
A Lincoln teacher had this to say: “This is a MEMOIR, not a piece of fiction. This is Alice Sebold's LIFE. How dare this man use this memoir in such a grotesque manner. His reading of the memoir was poor and unfeeling, making the rape scene crude instead of the violent attack that it was. Halloran was attacking not just Sen. Cavanaugh but every female member of the Unicameral and every woman of Nebraska.”
And this came to me from a Nebraska college student: “I’m sure this guy hasn’t even read the book. The whole point is visualizing the horror and trauma of rape, particularly so other rape survivors can understand their feelings are valid. Rape is about violence, not sex. Halloran just made it about sex … creating a possible trigger for anyone who has experienced rape. This was vile.”
In the past week's rocky aftermath, senators from across party lines have criticized Halloran – a few called for his resignation. State Sen. Ray Aguilar, who chairs the Legislature’s Executive Board, launched an investigation under the Legislature’s workforce harassment policy – that could take up to 45 days to complete.
One wonders exactly what they need to investigate. The entire state watched Halloran not only disgustedly demean a colleague but traumatize every sexual abuse victim in Nebraska. And since he will be term-limited this year, any delayed slap on the wrist is meaningless.
A resolution was also filed this past week stating that Halloran “should be censured and condemned for conduct that rises to the level of harassment and hostility to fellow members of the Legislature.” Such a censure resolution would involve a public hearing and, if advanced, require a vote by the entire Legislature.
A Lincoln woman in her 30’s who works for the University of Nebraska said she was confused: “I don’t get it. How does this guy still have a job? I’ve worked in many places, and there’s no way someone could make such a flagrant, unashamed, sexist statement, and not get fired.”
State Sen. Julie Slama – a Republican senator who has experienced sexual violence — said the Legislature’s workforce harassment policies are “completely inadequate” and regularly make the Unicameral “a national joke.”
Pushing for the Legislature to create an effective process where allegations of sexual assault could be authentically adjudicated, she explained there are now only three actions that can be taken against such a senator, including a formal letter, a censure vote and a formal expulsion from the body.
As reported in the Lincoln Journal Star, Slama asked: “If you were at any other job in the world and you got up and told your coworker in front of the rest of the workplace ‘give me a blowjob’ and then you interjected their name into a graphic description of a rape, what do you think your company would do to you?”
She and Cavanaugh believe a legislative investigation is inadequate and support the censure resolution: “We don’t need an investigation,” Slama stressed. “It only serves to slow walk this and sweep it under the rug.”
One of my friends whose career was with a national business headquartered in Nebraska, noted: “I work with people across the country and Canada, and I tell them Omaha and Lincoln are really nice places with good people. But I find our Legislature embarrassing, continually subjecting people – often people who are not straight, white, rich, Republican, male – to the most abject, cruel degradation and disregard.”
I love my home state, a place of beautiful prairies and many honest, decent people. But if we don’t call out the ugliness in Nebraska – particularly in our own Unicameral – we will never stop such victimization.
Good grief, enough is enough. Censure this guy. Create a better system for investigating sexual violence in the Nebraska Legislature. Stand up for decency. And please let Cavanaugh know she is not facing this fight alone.
A few final words from women of Nebraska: “The climate we establish must communicate clearly that this type of conduct is not tolerated. Ever.”
“We cannot allow this to stand. We cannot do nothing anymore or we are no better than those who force themselves on others to make them feel powerless, take away their voice. We must do better. Be better. We must.”
** Write your state senators. Now.
https://nebraskalegislature.gov/senators/senator_list.php
