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Condoleezza Rice Warns That the #MeToo Movement Could Backfire

By
Natasha Bach
Natasha Bach
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By
Natasha Bach
Natasha Bach
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January 15, 2018, 6:37 AM ET

One prominent woman has qualms about the #MeToo movement.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice worries that the movement could “infantilize women” and potentially encourage men to ostracize them.

Read: Time’s Up: What Makes Hollywood’s New Anti-Harassment Initiative So Revolutionary

She told David Axelrod in an interview on The Axe Files that she broadly believes that the movement to “expose these circumstances is a good thing,” but that people need to “be a little bit careful” about their response, ensuring that we don’t “turn women into snowflakes.”

In particular, Rice voiced concern that we could “get to a place that men start to think, ‘well maybe it’s just better not to have women around,’” suggesting that she’s already “heard a little bit of that.”

Read: Amid the #MeToo Movement, a U.S. President Who ‘Slut-Shames’ in Tweets

Despite these worries, Rice emphasized that she didn’t intend to “belittle” the women who have come forward with accounts of sexual harassment and acknowledged that she too had experienced men “say[ing] inappropriate things” to her. While she had never experienced what she would consider “assault,” Rice noted that she doesn’t “know a woman alive who hasn’t had somebody say or do something that was inappropriate at best, and aggressive at worst.”

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By Natasha Bach
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