Pres. Trump’s nominee to a lifetime seat on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, Neomi Rao, said she regrets her past articles that blamed women for date rape and claimed that “dangerous feminist idealism” teaches women they are equal to men.
Rao, during her Tuesday Senate confirmation hearing, faced awkward questions from senators over articles she wrote as a Yale University student in the mid-1990s.
In a 1994 op-ed in The Yale Herald, Rao argued that “a woman, like a man, decides when and how much to drink. And if she drinks to the point where she can no longer choose, well, getting to that point was part of her choice.”
She wrote that “a good way to avoid a potential date rape is to stay reasonably sober.” In an April 1993 piece in the Yale Free Press, Rao argued that the “controversy” over date rape “has been painted in terms of ‘yes’ and ‘no’, reducing sex to something merely consensual.”
She said “non-verbal communication plays an undeniable role,” and though she is “not arguing that date rape victims ask for it when playing the modern dating game, women have to understand and accept the consequences of their sexuality.”
Sen. Joni Ernst pressed Rao on a controversial claim she made in Rao’s 1993 article: that “dangerous feminist idealism” teaches women that they are equal.
“I very much regret that statement,” Rao replied, saying she strongly believes in the equality of men and women. “I’m honestly not sure why I wrote that.”
Sen. Joni Ernst told Neomi Rao that her past writings on date rape and sexual assault “give me pause” on confirming her to a lifetime federal court seat.
Sen. Kamala Harris asked Rao to explain her argument, in her 1993 piece, that “date rape exemplifies the attempts of the nurture feminist to develop an artificial, alternative world in which women are free from sexual danger and no always means no.”
“In your current view, when does no not mean no?” asked Harris. “No means no. I regret writing that when I was in college. I wouldn’t express myself that way today,” said Rao.
