In the wake of the report that political pundit Mark Halperin has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women, CNN’s Jake Tapper devoted a segment to discussing whether or not we are in the midst of a “sea change” in the culture of powerful men taking advantage of women in the workplace.
Highlighting that the Halperin revelations come after other high-profile sexual misconduct allegations brought against Harvey Weinstein and Bill O’Reilly, the CNN anchor discussed the possibility of a changing culture with CNN political analyst Kirsten Powers and CNN political commentator Amanda Carpenter.
“Gosh, I hope so,” Carpenter said. “You can’t ignore it anymore. It’s not just a one-off thing. It’s in every sector and, you know, by people you sometimes know and have worked with.”
She also noted that men have a role to play in making sure sexual harassment of women is made public and brought to the surface. “It’s the men who have to go, not the women when this happens,” Carpenter added.
After Powers stated that Halperin’s behavior was not a secret in the industry, she told Tapper that “the question of whether or not” the culture’s changing” is “to the extent that we’re having the conversations because I don’t think when a lot of this was happening people would even have listened to the complaints.”
Powers continued: “That said, you know, I’ve been harassed so many times I can’t even count. And I don’t come out and publicly talk about them in large part because it’s still true, I think, that most women feel — and I feel — that you will pay a price for it.”
The two women also spoke about their time at Fox News and working with O’Reilly. Both of them stated that O’Reilly never sexually harassed them personally but Powers talked about the “bullying” behavior that was tolerated at Fox. Carpenter added that her appearances on O’Reilly’s program can no longer be something she’s proud to tout on her resume.
Watch the clip above, via CNN.
[image via screengrab]
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