"Massa Massages"?

According to Joshua Green of The Atlantic, Representative Eric Massa did not recently begin sexually harassing male colleagues. Instead, he allegedly groped several male surbordinates during his military service and told one victim that he would have to endure a special "Massa Massage."

Here is a clip from the article:

According to Peter Clarke, a Navy shipmate, Massa was notorious for making unwanted advances toward subordinates. He tells the story of his friend Stuart Borsch, with whom Massa shared a hotel room while on leave during the first Gulf War. "Stuart's at the edge of the bed," Clarke says Borsch told him at the time, "and [Massa] starts massaging him. Massa said, 'You'll have to get one of my special massages.' He called them 'Massa Massages.'" Ron Moss, a Navy shipmate and Borsch's roommate, confirmed that Borsch told him this story at the time.

Borsch, now a history professor at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, didn't addresss that specific incident, but did confirm to me in an email that he was groped by Massa: "In 1990, aboard the U.S.S. Jouett, I was awakened when a senior officer, Lt. Commander Massa, seemed to be groping me. (I was a lieutenant at the time.) I believe he may have been drinking. I shouted at him and he left. I mentioned the incident to several other officers. I did not officially report it."

Clarke says that Massa's roommate, Tom Maxfield, was also assaulted. "Tom lived on upper bunk," Clarke say. "When you're on ship, you're almost exhausted 24-7. So a lot of times you sleep with your uniform on. Tom and Massa shared a stateroom together. Massa climbed up on the top of his bunk, which is hard to do--you never crawl up on somebody else's bunk. He wakes up to Massa undoing his pants trying to snorkel him." Ron Moss also confirmed hearing this story from Maxfield. Maxfield did not return calls and messages left for him--I'll update if he does.

For more details, see: Eric Massa's Navy Files

Is "Tickling" Sexual?

Representative Eric Massa continues to provide interesting tidbits from his sexual harassment vault. During an appearance on Glenn Beck's show (conservatives welcomed him after he denounced Democrats), Massa said that his contact with his aides was not "sexual."

Massa, however, has admitted to stroking the hair of a staffer. And on the Beck show, he said that he relentlessly "tickled" another aide:

“Now they are saying I groped a male staffer,’’ he told Mr. Beck. “Yeah I did. Not only did I grope him. I tickled him until he couldn’t breathe and then four guys jumped on top of me. It was my 50th birthday. It was kill the old guy. You can take anything out of context.’’

Massa also shared a house with his male assistants. He conceded that his Chief of Staff warmed him not to do this, but he said he needed to do so because of the outrageous rents in Washington, DC. Massa is under investigation for reportedly groping several male aides.

Representative Massa: Recidivist Groper?

The Washington Post, quoting three anonymous sources close to the ethical investigation of Representative Eric Massa, reports that Massa groped multiple male staffers. The allegations against Massa reportedly date back one year.

During a recent radio interview, Massa admitted to running his fingers through the hair of a male staffer while making a sexual comment. Massa, however, accuses White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer of using the ethical complaint process to chase him out of Congress in order to eliminate his "no" vote on healthcare reform. Massa says that he is only guilty of using "salty" language.

Rep. Massa: Lunatic or Victim of Diabolical Plot?

Last week, Representative Eric Massa announced that he would resign from Congress. Yesterday, Massa came out swinging against Rahm Emanuel and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, accusing them of forcing him out of Congress to eliminate a possible Democratic vote against the healthcare bill.

Massa Speaks About the Alleged Sexual Harassment
The facts in this saga are still emerging, but here are some preliminary details. Massa has admitted to making a sexually laced comment to an aide at a New Year's Eve party/wedding. Apparently, Massa made the comments after drinking massive quantities of alcohol.

Massa admits to the following exchange, which he says was recorded by cameras:

"I said goodnight to the bridesmaid,” Massa continued. “I sat down at the table where my whole staff was, all of them by the way bachelors.”

“One of them looked at me and as they would do after, I don’t know, 15 gin and tonics, and goodness only knows how many bottles of champagne, a staff member made an intonation to me that maybe I should be chasing after the bridesmaid and his points were clear and his words were far more colorful than that,” Massa said. “And I grabbed the staff member sitting next to me and said, ‘Well, what I really ought to be doing is fracking you.’ And then [I] tossled the guy’s hair and left, went to my room, because I knew the party was getting to a point where it wasn’t right for me to be there. Now was that inappropriate of me? Absolutely. Am I guilty? Yes.”

Massa says that the person to whom he made the comments did not complain of any harassment, but that another aide made an ethics complaint.

Massa Accuses Emanuel and Hoyer of Pushing Him Out of Congress
Massa accuses Emanuel and Hoyer of trying to push him out of Congress in order to eliminate a possible "no" vote on healthcare reform. Massa says that he "was set up for this from the very, very beginning. . . The leadership of the Democratic Party have become exactly what they said they were running against."

Massa was especially critical of Hoyer. He says that Hoyer has been improperly discussing the details of the ethical complaint against him before an investigation has made any findings.

Massa is either a lunatic, a victim or both.

NOW Condemns David Letterman for Having Sex With Female Staff

The National Organization for Women has strongly condemned David Letterman, who recently admitted to having sex with female staffers. Letterman disclosed the relationships in order to foil an extortion scam.

NOW: Letterman Created "Toxic Environment"
NOW has posted a formal statement criticizing Letterman on its website. According to NOW, Letterman's behavior created a "toxic environment." NOW reasons that:

[Letterman] wields the ultimate authority as to who gets hired, who gets fired, who gets raises, who advances, and who does entry-level tasks among the Late Show employees. As "the boss," he is responsible for setting the tone for his entire workplace -- and he did that with sex. In any work environment, this places all employees -- including employees who happen to be women -- in an awkward, confusing and demoralizing situation.

The statement also describes a call from a man who asked NOW to advise him how to discuss this issue with his daughter:

We recently received a call from a man in Rockford, Ill., who wanted to get advice from NOW about what to tell his 16 year-old daughter who was confused by reports on the latest Letterman controversy. The father raised his daughter to be a feminist. He raised her to stand up for herself. He raised her not be objectified as a sexual object. She admits she is confused because the messages she sees on television and news reports appear to make it okay to objectify women as long as the man in power is famous. It is this kind of hypocrisy that perpetuates the image of men in power preying on women, while many look the other way.

NOW's Criticism is Unnuanced
Sexual harassment in the workplace is not only unlawful, but it is a serious problem. NOW's analysis, however, does not distinguish unwanted sexual attention, which federal law prohibits, and consensual sex. Because Letterman is "the boss," NOW deems any sexual contact between him and his (female) staff as inappropriate.

Many feminist legal theorists (e.g., Janet Halley, Kathryn Abrams) have criticized the assumption that women lack agency to consent to sexual relations in the workplace, including with men in positions of authority. Some of the "agency theorists" have failed to appreciate the fact that economic status, race, sexual orientation, and other factors severely limit women's autonomy. Nevertheless, NOW's assertion that any sexual contact between "bosses" and subordinates creates a "toxic" work environment, "objectifies" women, and involves men "preying on women" offers a particularly unnuanced depiction of the workplace.

In some circumstances, the law rightfully assumes that "subordinates" cannot consent to sex. For example, statutory rape laws rest on the understanding that sex between a child and an adult will likely involve some dimension of coercion even if the child offers "consent." Laws also prohibit teachers from having sex with students, including students who have reached the legal age of consent. Similar laws ban sexual relations among staff and patients in mental hospitals and among prison officials and inmates. NOW's position treats the workplace like all of these other settings where the problem of consent seems far more pronounced.

Irony
It is also interesting and ironic that in the case of Letterman, a female staffer's male romantic companion spearheaded the extortion scheme. Apparently, Joe Alderman read Stephanie Birkitt's personal diary, discovered that she was having an affair with Letterman, and tried to cash in on the situation.

Alderman treated Birkitt as "his" property. It does not appear that Birkitt conspired with him to commit extortion. Instead, Alderman used her affair with Letterman to address his own dire financial situation. This seems analogous to the archaic notion that an act of adultery with a married women is a crime against the "innocent" married male.

Also, according to some sources, Birkitt apparently told Alderman that she and Letterman where "best friends" when she traveled with him to Montana in 2008. Furthermore, Birkitt has described her relationship with Letterman in very warm terms. These factors undermine the sexual predator narrative that informs NOW's critique of Letterman.

Conclusion
Letterman might be a patriarch. But that does not rob women of the ability to consent to sex, nor does it make him a sexual predator.

Update: Taylor Marsh has also analyzed this issue: Just One Reason I Don't Belong to NOW.