HONORS 195: Rhetoric of Impeachment; Fall, 1999, John Dewey Honors Program, College of Arts & Sciences, University of Vermont
Alfred C. Snider, Edwin W. Lawrence Professor of Forensics

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MONICA LEWINSKY:

Body Image and Rhetoric

By

Amy Watker

December 7, 1999

Monica Samille Lewinsky was born on July 23, 1973, the first child of Marcia and Bernard Lewinsky. She lived her entire childhood in Beverly Hills, California—home to the rich, famous, and beautiful. Pictures show Monica was a cute, chubby child.

Childhood stories portray Monica as a stubborn, spoiled girl knowing exactly what she wanted and used to getting it; whether is was by throwing a tantrum or refusing to do anything until she got her way. At her aunts wedding she refused to go out as the flower girl until the sleeves were cut off from her dress and when it was time for her Bats-mitzvah she stomped, cried, and begged until she was given a huge party at a banquet hall instead of a small one in her back yard. Her father being a successful doctor, Monica and the family had little to want for.

Although she was a main character in the impeachment scandal, I didn't know anything about her except being constantly told that she was overweight and "fat." She was central to the whole scandal and the confessions forced from her by Ken Starr and the Office of the Independent Council (OIC) have changed the way people think and talk about politics, sex, the presidency, and presidential responsibility. She brought evidence of a presidential affair and raised questions as to the true duty of the position as one of a moral leader or one of a country's manager.

Monica Lewinsky has come to symbolize many things because of her involvement in the Clinton impeachment scandal. No doubt when people think about the famous intern they will think of the cigar, the dress, and oral sex in the oval office. They may think about how "that woman... Miss Lewinsky" was betrayed by Linda Tripp, how she was harassed by the press, or perhaps that she in love with the President of the United States. But above all when people are talking about Monica Lewinsky they will probably tell one of the many jokes about her weight and perhaps discuss her success/failure on losing weight, which has become the basis of their discourse.

Monica and her involvement in the impeachment scandal have come to represent the reinforcement and legitimization of the North American view of female stereotypes. Not only has the press and entertainment industry contributed to the superficial treatment of Monica, but also the woman herself has focused on these traits/faults which are, in themselves, societal constructs. She represents us, the thoughts, feelings, insecurities, and prejudices of the average United States citizen. As David Remick, writer for The New Yorker, proclaimed "Monica is the woman of secrets who no longer has any. Her eyes are not windows but mirrors, and what we see in them is awful. Yet we go on staring" (p.342).

North American society puts such an importance on the way that people look, especially women and their weight, that we have invented diseases where women starve themselves to death, though they have access to an abundance of food. One out of every one hundred young women between ten and twenty are starving themselves (anorexia), and four out of every one hundred college-aged women have bulimia (not eating, then overeating, then vomiting to expel food and calories) (DISORDERS). "Only about five to ten percent (5-10%) of people with anorexia and bulimia are male. This gender difference may reflect our society's opposite expectations for men and women. Men are supposed to be strong and powerful. They feel ashamed of skinny bodies. Women, on the other hand, are supposed to be tiny, waif-like, and thin." (DISORDERS)

Girls growing up in the United States are subjected to the pressures to be thin in almost every faucet of their lives, they can not avoid seeing models and actresses who weigh very little on TV, magazines, and in advertisements. In a study of female college students, a majority of those who consider themselves "overweight" were not. Three-quarters of those surveyed felt they were overweight when, by medical definition, less than one-quarter of them actually were. Body image problems are most prevalent in women 25 and under-an age group of which Monica fit into during the scandal. Reality seems to have little to do with how women perceive themselves and others. Adding to this confusion is the constant bombardment of women with models who are portrayed as the ideal women, successful in work and relationships, smart, trustworthy, and funny etc. Yet these women are becoming more and more unlike the average women, 25 years ago the average model weighed 8% less than the average American woman, today's model weighs 23% below the national average (BODY). Women are encouraged to be underweight and told that if you look a certain way, your problems will be solved. The hype of the height-weight charts, which were developed by the Metropolitan Insurance company (and are estimated to be off by as much as 20%), and are not an appropriate appraisal of specific health risks, adds a medical argument to reinforce the problem (BODY).

Society teaches its children to hate. It is socially acceptable to hate fat people and parents teach this to their children through their actions or their inactions. A study by Richardson, Hastorf, Goodman & Dornbush, (1961) showed that young children express a dislike of fat people so that they do not want fat friends (WEIGHT).

Most people are familiar with the phrase "you can never be too rich or too thin." Through out her life Monica has had to deal with her weight problem and the psychological issues that accompanied it. She was picked on by her peers from early on in elementary school. She was nicknamed "Big-Mac" and teased about being overweight. She was also excluded from social gatherings and a birthday party. Her insecurity fluctuated with her weight. She saw a psychologist about this, went to a 'fat camp,' and almost went to year treatment facility, boasting tremendous weight loss from a diet comprised solely of rice.

Monica recalls how painful it was to live in Beverly Hills and have problems with her weight: "a 'normal' high school girl was thin, a cheerleader, had lots of boyfriends and went to endless parties. That wasn't me. Everybody looked great, everyone was very conscious of how they looked there and so being overweight was not acceptable. The pressure was horrible." ( BOOK p.34) Monica sunk in out of depression as her weight went up and down. Her parents noticed and helped her to find psychiatric help. As she went through the numerous programs and diets, Monica internalized that being fat was bad and made her a bad person, unable to achieve success and happiness. Monica's perceived weight problems were used by Clinton supporter in the beginning as a way to try and disprove the relationship existed. I believe that if Monica didn't have to give up the dress, the public would have no problem disbelieving that she had a relationship with the president, because she is 'fat.' I think that this is the same thing that happened with the other women (Gennifer Flowers and Paula Jones), they were not taken seriously because, as I heard numerous times, why would the President have an affair with a women that looks like that? The leader of the free world could have anyone he wants, why wouldn't he chose a beautiful model with a small nose, a soft, gentle voice, and a slim figure? After all those are the qualities that make a women sexually desirable and worthy.

When there was no question that the affair indeed took place, supporters used her appearance to help in discrediting and villianizing her, the same way that they used rumors of her being a stalker. A study done by Dion, Bersheid, and Walster (1972) called "What is Beautiful is Good," showed that attractive people were perceived to hold more desirable social qualities, and were therefore more liked and thought of as more virtuous by others because of these perceived qualities. By convincing the public that Monica is unattractive, they are also strengthening the perception that she is the bad one, and not Clinton. People also perceive attractive persons as more successful (Chia, R.C., Allred, L.J., Grossnickle, W.F., & Lee, G.W.(1998), Boyatzis, C.J., Baloff, P., & Durieux, C. (1998), Mulford, M., Orbell, J., Shatto, C., & Stockard, J. (1998)) in academics, work, and everyday exchange. By portraying Monica as unattractive they are also reinforcing their rumors that she was exchanging sexual favors for career advancement--that she was unable to achieve on her own.

The information that was fed to the public was mainly excerpts, sound bites, and edited versions of the story. Monica was seen on TV mostly trying to push through the mass of surrounding paparazzi or being yelled at and chased down the street for a comment:

Therefore most of the public is basing their opinions on the spin that the news and other politically skewed programs put on Monica. A lot of the shots were of Monica looking tousled and harassed.

Monica was up against a lot, both sides (democrat/republican, opposed/supporter) set out to villianize her. Those supporting the impeachment of the president didn't like her because through it all she was defending him and wasn't eager to incriminate him. They were not hurting Bill's ratings and used her as an example of the decline of the moral decline of the country. Those that opposed the impeachment of Bill obviously dislike Monica because she is the 'proof' that caused the truth to immerge, made the impeachment possible, and dramatically changed (for the worst) the Clinton family and it's image.

If you look at the survey results below you will see how successful the villianization was. Even those who did horrible things to her (Tripp and Starr) are thought of as more favorable. I think that this has a lot to do with the fact that the media played up her weight and the connection to her being bad, and also because no big group took her side, at least Tripp and Starr had the supporters of impeachment and those claiming the moral good. Only Saddam Hussein has a higher disapproval rate.

Saddam Hussein 1% 96% 3%

The real problem is when Monica begins to utilize some of the stereotypes and rumors in order to explain herself. When the judgmental stories came out about her, she was looking for approval, she wanted the American people to accept and understand her. She fashioned legitimately bad experiences to expand, explain and include the entire episode with Clinton. She makes it clear that throughout her life she struggled with being accepted, usually because of her weight. Monica has felt lost and alone most of her life, according to her book and interview on 20/20. She wants people to know that this is the reason for the way that she acted and spoke.

Stories told by Monica’s friends and family have always attested to the fact that, besides her insecurities about her weight, she is a smart, articulate, independent, stubborn women. During the impeachment we get to see her being tough, defensive, and smart in some instances. During parts of her deposition, she expresses knowledge of the law and exactly how she should answer and act. Her answers are intelligent and short, not allowing hasty mistakes. She also stands by her belief that some things should be private;

Again she doesn't let Mr. Bryant (the questioner) bully her into disclosing anything

she doesn't want to;

Plato Cacheris, her attorney stated that her testimony was "a textbook example of how to behave as a witness...it was difficult and stressful situation and she came across as articulate, poised and intelligent, yet vulnerable" (p.354).

Monica is also very funny; it is not uncommon for her to crack jokes in her discussions--usually one-liners. Even throughout the tense trial proceedings she finds opportunities to get a couple of laughs:

And after being assured that her body mike would pick up every remark, she gibed "Oh, the Linda Tripp version" (p.354).

But because of the bad treatment of her by the press, and her feelings of isolation, she changes in order to be perceived in a better light by the public. Trying to be more womanly, she portrays herself as stereotypically when she is addressing the public and when she feels that being to assertive is the wrong way to go.

During the interview on 20/20, Monica relays her desire to be thought of in a positive light and accepted by the American people through her appearance and body language as much as her speech. She had lost considerable weight, and pulled her newly cut hair back, wore a conservative black pants suit, had very pastel colored make up on, with dainty dangling earrings. Her hands were folded on her lap most of the time, she sat up straight, and when she answered a question she often times paused before answering to smile, she blushed a few times and often looked down on her lap or the floor as she spoke in a very tame way. The insecurity that began at a young age and developed over her life, about how she looks and behaves showed as much as her desire to be accepted. She was willing to act a certain way that she perceived would make her more likable, by being what is thought of as the typical women, docile, thin, shy, etc.

Monica perpetuates many female stereotypes in her rhetoric. In much of her discourse she is very submissive. She appeals to the expectations that women should be told what they want and should do. This is for the benefit of the public; for she is described as sexually confident and strong willed in her actions prior to the scandal and public evaluation. This is evident in the story of her flirting with the President by allowing him a fleeting glimpse of her thong underwear during a party. By changing her manner, she is agreeing that women should not be sexual confident, strong willed, and independent.

Her tone is also very meek and shy in parts of the interview with Barbara Walters on 20/20, looking almost embarrassed as she states that the President "said that (she) had a lot of energy and that (she) lit up a room when (she) went in it, that he was drawn to (her), that he thought (she) was attractive and he thought (she) was smart" (INTERVIEW). This is also true during some of the senate trial where, during her deposition she says that she is "sorry" more than 15 times, and states that she is "not trying to be difficult" on more than one occasion (DEPOSITION).

Monica is very whiny and submissive during the conversations that she had with Linda Tripp. In most conversations she complains about her relationship with the President, his lack of time for her, his inability to get her a job and how there cannot be a normal relationship between them. She seems very needy. She is also very naive, believing everything that Tripp tells her and lets her instruct her on almost everything, relying on her for daily instructions. For Monica, Tripp "became (her)personal diary, someone to confide in , bounce every idea and concern off...(she)came to need her approval for everything--and she came to control (Monica)" ( BOOK p.125). This became the basis for almost all of their conversations which are riddled with Monica's uncertain "well, yeah...I don't know...I guess...you are right"s (TAPES).

It seems that most of Monica's conversations have a very wide range of emotions, often one day or conversation will include multiple moods, many of them ending up with her in tears at some point. This is a typical female stereotype and is often an excuse used to explain why women should not be hired for certain positions--women are too emotional and unstable. As her moods change, so does Monica’s speech pattern from rambling on and on to short pouty responses. During the 20/20 interview she breaks down and cries twice at the end of the meeting. Conversations with the President were especially emotional;

When she couldn't see or talk to Clinton she often became frightenly frantic. On a day she went to see him, he couldn't see her because he was busy, she "was crying, (she) was angry, (she) was frustrated, (she) was out of her mind" (BOOK p.159). She would plead with him to allow her to visit saying "all you...ever have to do to pacify me is to see me and hold me" (BOOK p.183). She would also go into fits of quiet melancholy and angry jealousy. Monica once got very upset after seeing a clip on the news of Bill and Hillary Clinton dancing romantically on the beach. She would often vent her frustrations on Betty Currie, the President's secretary, who soon began to think of her as "a 'pain in the neck' because of her tears, her tantrums and her endless phone calls" (BOOK p.161).

She makes it clear in her book that she had no life while she was involved with the President, "she was constantly distracted by the thought that she might be missing a telephone call from" him (BOOK p.110). Burdened by the realization that she could never have a regular relationship with the man that she loved, she was consumed by

She needs men. She is not complete without being in a relationship, and as long as she is in a relationship, even if it is an unhappy one, she is better off. Her relationship, or potential relationship was more important to her than being happy. She

In her book and also in the interviews with Barbara Walters, she mentions many times her desire to have a husband and a family. This seems to be most important and her goal.

Commenting on her misery, her mother says "when she moved to the Pentagon, that's when the true, true, blackest, darkest, worst of it began. She was miserable. She would sit by the phone and count the days and stay in her room and cry" (BOOK p.102).

These attempts at proving to the public that she is a victim and the damsel in distress, do not help her gain approval from the public. In fact she is perceived very badly:

Top Ten Most Admired Women Mentions:

1. Hillary Clinton 28%

2. Oprah Winfrey 8%

3. Elizabeth Dole 6%

4. Margaret Thatcher 4%

5. Barbara Bush 3%

6. Madeleine Albright 3%

7. Maya Angelou 2%

8. Queen Elizabeth 1%

9. Janet Reno 1%

10. Monica Lewinsky 1%

Monica communicates through mass media; TV, newspapers, magazines, her book, and live presentation (testimony and conversation with friends). The United States has more than 1,500 television broadcast stations (including nearly 1,000 stations affiliated with the five major networks—NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, and PBS; in addition, there are about 9,000 cable TV systems) (1997). For about 215 million television sets (1993 est.) (FBI STATS). Americans watch a lot of television, whether at home, school, or in public places such as restaurants and airports;

These are the same ways that the stereotypes of women are transmitted everyday, in TV shows, advertisements, and news programs. "In 1993, the diet industry took in $37 billion pushing its products, programs, and promises into the shopping carts and belief systems of American women (and occasionally men). The diet companies rarely tout a message of the health benefits of getting and staying fit. (Perhaps this is because many of the pills, formulas, and diet plans are unhealthy and sometimes dangerous, even when used as directed.) Instead, they entice us with promises of happier, more fulfilling lives, implying that being thin is the answer to all our problems" (DIET)

Since Monica's recent contribution as Jenny Craig spokeswoman, her rhetoric has fully enveloped the legitimization of all of the fat jokes and discrimination. She does not look overweight, but she is admitting that she does not look right, that there is something wrong with her that she needs to fix.

It is interesting to note that throughout this whole scandal, despite previous claims of the President being overweight, he is not criticized nearly as harshly based on his appearance, or the fact that he is much older than Monica. The disapproval of him is based on his lack of morality, in cheating on his wife and lying under oath, and in his choice of women who are not good looking in terms of the societal ideal. Note that Bill is favored much more than Monica; a survey taken February 26-28, 1999 found that:

Even though a majority of people thought that Bill was more responsible for the relationship, they felt more sympathy for him and favored him a lot more than Monica. Perhaps this is the age-old double standard that it is OK for a man to explore and gratify his sexual urges but it is not for a woman--women should restrain themselves. Perhaps they feel more sorry for him because he is president and she doesn't have as much to lose...except for her privacy, job, and animosity to start.

The incessant commentary on Monica's weight reinforces and agrees to the socially ideal image of women. Talking and joking about her weight in the media, her own discussed insecurities about her weight, and becoming the Jenny Craig spokeswoman has made it an issue, when it should not be. Most of the jokes seem to focus on Monica’s weight (even though she did have an affair, it doesn't seem to matter), which again continues the idea that in order to be sexy, one needs to be thin. This assumption, in conjuncture with the public’s apparent dislike of Monica, is justified by people in order to make fun of her weight. This scandal showed more than anything that is still socially alright for people to be discriminated against based on their weight and body type. This damages the country more than the acceptance of sex as a conversational topic on TV news, because of the impact on female’s perceptions of themselves and their bodies.

Monica is no different than any other woman growing up in the United States. She grew up and was socialized in the same country, with the same historical and cultural influences, exposed to the same messages. In her book and also in the interview, she is telling a story, a story that could happen to anyone. She emphasizes the similarities between her life and anyone's, which just ended up in different places. Her book and interview depend on the establishment of an emotional understanding of the circumstances she was in. She speaks to the 78% of the 272,639,608 (July 1999 est.) people living in the United States whom are 15 years of age or older (1999 est.), and roughly half of whom are female (total population: 0.96 male(s) to 1.0 female(s) (1999 est.))(FBI STATS), depending on common experiences and social pressures for her rhetoric to be affective.

Unfortunalty those pressures and experiences are ones that are filled with weight prejudices. In their 1990 study, Crandal & Biernat found an ideology surrounding the dislike of fat people: "the reason why fat people are so disliked is that people tend to assume that they are in control of their lives, and have made themselves fat, that they are responsible for how fat they are. There is an idea that fat people are "self-indulgent" and therefore are responsible for the fact that they are fat"(WEIGHT). This compliments DeJong’s (1980) findings that, when a person's obesity is related to a factor that is unable to be controlled by that person, such as a thyroid condition, they are "well-liked and not blamed for their fatness" (WEIGHT). This is tragic, because a person’s body has a range of weight that it likes to keep within, if body weight drops to low, the body will try extra hard to keep it in range. Everyone’s range is different, as it should be, and people should be educated about these things, much in the same way people are educated about minorities.

The whole impeachment scandal and the rhetoric that was involved, hurt the nation in many ways, including the perpetuation and legitimization of female stereotypes. Monica is a perfect example of a women who has grown up and internalized the way that women ought to look and act. This means that she has to turn on herself; going against her body's natural weight preference when she loses weight, and against her very own identity when she acts inconsistent with previous actions and attitudes which show us an independent, sexy woman. Monica's acceptance of the fact that she is fat along with her desire to change that, though she does not look overweight and does not have health problems because of her weight, means that she is saying that women should all look like models. She overlooks the fact that the President was interested in her in the first place, and instead emphasized how happy she was when he told her many times that she looked thin.

It is sad that, although we have gone so far in combating prejudices and discrimination against minorities and religious freedom, that we continue to let outrageous stereotypes slide that say a woman’s worth is based on her appearance.

Monica has psychological issues that she has to deal with because of issues with her weight. They are the same issues that many American girls have to work through. By actively trying to look a certain way, with a certain ideal body, and acting certain ways, to portray herself as a "typical women", Monica is feeding prejudice and stereotype models. Although she may not intend this, it perpetuates the values of the society that made her feel she was not worth anything, so another little girl may find her self in the same place, psychologically. It is a vicious circle, and the only way that it can stop is if women stop—stop changing the way that they look and act to meet these societal ideals of what women should be. I would have been much happier, and perhaps the stereotypes of women could have taken a giant step back, if Monica had stood up and said "well you think that I am fat and worthless, but I was in a relationship with one of the most powerful men in the world, a man whom you all elected because, for at least a small part, of his intelligence. And he thought that I was energetic, sexy, and beautiful. I am my own person, and though I have made mistakes, I am proud of who I am in a society which sends mixed messages about what women have to look and act like in order to be successful human beings."

Sources:

* Body:

http://eserver.org/feminism/real-and-ideal-body-image.txt

* Book:

Morton, Andrew. Monica's Story. Andrew Morton and Prufrock LLC, 1999.

* Deposition:

http://www.c-span.org/guide/executive/investigation/lewinskydep.asp

* Diet:

http://www.feminist.com/coltext2.htm

*Disorders:

* FBI Stats:

http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/us.html#people

* Interview: http://www.abcnews.go.com./sections/us/DailyNews/monica990304.html

http://abcnews.go.com./on air/DailyNews/2020_990302_lewinskyx.html

* Media:

* Public:

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/03/02/poll/

* Tapes:

http://www.abcnews.go.com./sections/us/DailyNews/tripptapes981118..html

tape # transcript #

LRT 006-1 2534-2539

LRT 018-1 2656-2664

LRT 022-2 2777-2786

T 30-3 2773-2777

T 30-5 2786-2795

*Weight

http://www.chat.carleton.ca/~rjunnark/just.html

Chia, R.C., Allred, L.J., Grossnickle, W.F., Lee, G.W. (1997). Effects of attractiveness and gender on the perception of achievement-related variables. The Journal of Social Psychology, 138(4), 471-477.

Mulford, M., Orbell, J., Shatto, C., Stockard, J. (1998). Physical attractiveness, opportunity, and success in everyday exchanges. American Journal of Sociology, 103(6), 1565-1592.

Boyatzis, C.J., Baloff, P., Durieux, C. (1998). Effects of perceived attractiveness and academic success on early adolescent peer popularity. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 159(3), 337-344.