Please don't take away my Feminist card

In a remarkable display of bad judgment, I read the sexual harrassment complaint against Bill O'Reilly in its entirety. My first thought was, "Ew!" (OK, my second through hundredth thoughts were also "ew!" because no one needs to have that mental picture.) But after successfully repressing my gag reflex, I had to ask: Why did she go back to work for him?

I quickly supressed this question, thinking it made me a Bad Bad Person. I'm not into blaming the victim, and if O'Reilly did what the suit claims he did than there is no excuse for his actions. But the whole thing still troubles me. She managed to escape the hostile work environment and go work somewhere else (CNN), where she was better paid and didn't have to deal with O'Reilly, who I imagine is not fun to deal with even if he's not constantly begging you for phone sex. Richard Cohen's column in today's Washington Post brilliantly expresses the problem I have with the whole thing, so I won't rehash his every argument, but here it is in a nutshell: Women are not powerless. She had the power to exit from the situation, and she exercised that power. Good for her. But then she chose to reenter it, and to allow herself to be a victim again.

Let me reiterate that I'm not saying there's any excuse for what O'Reilly is said to have done (can you tell I'm well-versed in libel law?). And personally, I get no small amount of joy in seeing O'Reilly exposed as the worst kind of hypocrite. I'm just saying that the victim contributed to her own disempowerment by not doing something about the situation sooner and by ignoring basic common sense.

OK, dismounting from high horse now.