FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: MELINDA SHELTON, 202-331-0066 x767; KRISTIN ST. JOHN, x773

AS JONES v. CLINTON HEATS UP, NOW RENEWS CALL FOR END TO "NUTS AND SLUTS" STRATEGY IN SEXUAL HARASSMENT CASES

MONDAY, JUNE 2, 1997

While the merits of Paula Corbin Jones' case against President Clinton are still in question, one issue recently raised is crystal clear: Women who file sexual harassment complaints should not face personal attacks designed to intimidate them into silence.

It is time to retire the so-called "nuts or sluts" strategy used to discredit women who dare to speak out by suggesting that they either imagined or asked for the harassment. Just as feminists worked to pass rape shield laws to stop unscrupulous criminal defense lawyers who tried to get rapists off by badgering rape survivors, NOW again calls on lawmakers across the country to enact similar protections for women who file sexual harassment complaints.

We invite President Clinton, Ms. Jones and their supporters to help us change public policy so that no woman -- be she an automobile assembly line worker in Normal, Ill., a stockbroker on Wall Street or a state employee in Little Rock -- ever has to face the kind of ruthless attacks we have seen used against Anita Hill and countless other women seeking justice.

We remain resolute in our determination to stop the attacks against women who make sexual harassment allegations. In this case, the sexual past of both parties ought to be irrelevant unless directly related to Ms. Jones' allegations.

Link to this press release at http://www.now.org/press/06-97/06-02-97.html