Apologies are not offered by Stormy Daniels. Not online, where she readily claps back with hateful memes and insults. She enthusiastically outlined her pornography career, defended herself against claims of money-grubbing, and deflected criticism of a strip club tour called “Make America Horny Again.” However, she did not do any of this while testifying as a witness in Donald Trump’s hush money trial this week.
Since Bill Clinton’s presidency, sex scandals have progressed significantly.
That is one important thing to remember from last week’s courtroom drama, when Daniels subduedly testified about her sexual orientation, hotel room affairs, and the awkward advances made by a future president of the United States — and the media took careful notes. The political and legal upheavals surrounding the trial brought back memories of the Clinton administration’s alleged sexual harassment and extramarital affairs, which caused investigations, lawsuits, and even impeachment in the 1990s. Just like now, the press was absolutely giddy with excitement, publishing all the juicy facts with an air of awe, and late-night comedians couldn’t contain their laughter.
On the other hand, a significant distinction exists. Paula Jones, who sued Clinton for sexual harassment in the mid-1990s, and Monica Lewinsky, the intern at the center of Clinton’s impeachment, were the women who were the targets of mockery, belittlement, dismissal, and unintentional dragging into the spotlight and left to endure it all on their own. Jones famously sobbed during a news conference at a pivotal moment in the story, expressing her distress at the intense scrutiny and mounting strain.
During Trump’s trial, his longtime advisor Hope Hicks broke down in tears while testifying as a witness. The woman with the bedroom tales, Daniels, appeared unconcerned. Her sex-positive, self-assured, and rebellious nature is on full display there. This indicates something about her culture, though, because it allows her greater leeway to portray herself in this way and provides her with the resources to counter her critics.
The Clinton scandals were characterized by profound cruelty toward the women involved, as well as the power relations that enabled this brutality, as any anybody who was alive during that time will recall. It was a “little tart” that the Wall Street Journal editorialized Lewinsky as in 1998. Nighttime television megaphone-wielding men made fun of Jones’ nose and Lewinsky’s weight. Powerful men in politics have shown their misogyny and classism in their disparaging remarks: “You never know what you’ll find”—that’s what James Carville famously stated about Jones.
By claiming that Daniels was an unscrupulous character who sought extortion money when she accepted a $130,000 payment to conceal her tale, Trump’s defense counsel are attempting to undermine Daniels’ testimony. This is not the case with Daniels, though. To start with, she’s more seasoned and elder. On the other hand, she’s significantly less likely to be embarrassed. A lot of people don’t look down on her because of her lengthy career in adult films, where she went from actress to director to impresario. It also allows her to stand up to tired slut-shaming stereotypes and gives her a sense of power that Jones and Lewinsky lacked. “So you have a lot of experience making phony stories about sex appear real?” asked Trump’s defense counsel in a subtle shot at Daniels’ career during Thursday’s courtroom proceedings. — Daniels responded quickly and unconcernedly. The sex is real, she declared. “That’s the reason why it’s indecent.”
That insincere refusal to comply helps to clarify why, despite being the target of late-night jokes this week, Daniels has rarely been the punchline. On “The Daily Show,” host Jordan Klepper centered his attention on Trump and the media’s peculiar fixation on him. He made the comment, “You’re very prudish for people whose names sound like porn names,” following a footage of CNN’s Dana Bash and Jake Tapper acting as if the trial coverage had made them blush. On Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC, the spotlight was on the circus: “The judge said Stormy could testify about her sexual relationship with Trump, but also said, ‘We don’t need to know the details.’… ” It is necessary for us to know the specifics. Is it okay that several of us are attempting to host a show here? Daniels’ Thursday testimony regarding a paranormal reality program and an allegedly haunted house—which was actually inhabited by a possum—may offer some new material, but it will not pertain to sexual matters.
It’s reasonable to question if the mainstream media would treat Daniels with the same level of gullibility or leniency if the defendant were someone other than Trump. Some conservative media figures who have defended Trump have even been bold enough to cast doubt on Daniels’ veracity. The female anchor Kennedy delivered a classic joke on Fox News last week, comparing her astonishment at going to a hotel room alone with a man to Pete Sampras’ amazement at being welcomed to a tennis court and wanting to see his serve.
The norms for reporting on sexual dynamics have obviously shifted for a lot of media outlets. The #MeToo movement brought attention to power dynamics and prompted a shift in perspective in the media and beyond. This, according to slut-shaming specialist Leora Tanenbaum (whose works include “SLUT! “), opened doors that weren’t there in the 1990s. A Girl’s Life Dealing with a Damned Image
Tanenbaum expressed her frustration in an email, saying, “we didn’t even have the language to describe being trashed as a result of the sexual double standard” among other things. It was widely accepted that females will be whores and boys will be boys. Therefore, these women could not have been regarded seriously had they acted differently during that period.
Other changes in the last several decades, such as the rise of social media, have undoubtedly contributed to this transition. It takes guts to compete in a space where generalized cruelty and body-shaming are commonplace, but Daniels does it with conviction, using her accounts to hone her frank persona and fight back against detractors who try to lump her into misogynistic stereotypes. In response to a recent X user’s comment that said, “it’s crazy your greatest life achievement is fornication with a married man,” Daniels retorted, “True!” Our daughter is the result of his marriage to me. The ’90s could have turned out differently if Lewinsky and Jones could have spoken up and dispelled rumors instantly.
Nonetheless, Tanenbaum warns against making exaggerated claims about advancements. She argues that when women discuss sexuality, there is still a double standard: The 2021 Grammy Awards performance of “WAP” by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion drew more than a thousand complaints to the Federal Communications Commission. The media’s incessant labeling of Daniels as a “porn star” or “adult film actress,” which Tanenbaum claims leads readers to believe she isn’t serious, is another point of contention. “Unless you believe that women who work in the sex industry are untrustworthy,” Tanenbaum argues, dismissing the relevance of her employment to the criminal prosecution.
