In January 1998, the President of the United States stood in front of the country on a televised news conference and stated, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.” This statement was released in the wake of rumors that Bill Clinton had become suspiciously close with 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. After the tabloids got a hold of evidence that proved the legitimacy of the affair, it was only a matter of time until mass media made the story into one of the first ever viral public shamings in history. Monica Lewinsky became the center of public shaming as she was painted as a homewrecker and a “slut.” Mr. Bill Clinton would later go on to be impeached for perjury, acquitted, and is now currently standing next to his wife as she attempts to put the family back in the White House. Monica Lewinsky, on the other hand, became a social outcast, was unable to find a job and has gone on living her life as the woman who had an affair with Bill Clinton. Essentially the shame Monica Lewinsky experienced was and is derived from the fact that the United States culture is so engraved in patriarchy that the social norms that Americans practice encourage women to be shamed and objectified more intensely.

Often public shaming is the result of an already established media circus that surrounds prominent figures in our society, just as the Clinton Family’s fame affected Monica Lewinsky. As a result of established media attention, citizens in the limelight are more susceptible to shaming because their every action is being recorded and then presented to the mass public. The effect the limelight has on citizens creates the idea that because certain people are in the spotlight, they are held to a higher standard of action and they are expected to act appropriately for the public. These expectations project gender roles onto people in the limelight with women often being targeted more so for their image and outward morals. Monica Lewinsky was targeted because she was accused of wrecking the family that represents the face of home values in the United States and social standards for women dictate that women are responsible for maintaining and fostering a good home environment. Often the presidential family is expected to encompass the perfect American household which is why Hillary Clinton calling Lewinsky a “loony toon” only fueled the fire.

Hillary Clinton is a prominent woman that the media already follows on a daily basis making immature comments and, therefore, influencing the general public to act similarly towards the issue. Hillary Clinton created the picture that young, immature women were below the values of family and were too immature to have any depth beyond their mistakes. There are obviously affairs that happen every day in our society, but the reason that Monica Lewinsky was targeted to such an extent is because of the media circus that surrounds the presidency and the way the First Lady condoned the public blaming Lewinsky. The second that Hillary Clinton spoke out against Lewinsky the public was shown that if someone as important as the First Lady supports Lewinsky’s shaming that anyone could participate. This is where the feminists or rather the most influential feminist of the time let Monica Lewinsky down. Hillary Clinton took a majority of the responsibility away from Bill Clinton and blamed it on Lewinsky and in doing so reaffirmed that women are often held to a different standard on indiscretions.

The vast moral inequality between how men are expected to act and how females are expected to act is incredibly prevalent in the situation where Monica Lewinsky took most of the blame for a situation that was consensual. Gender inequality exists in all walks of life and incredibly prevalent in the sexual standards that our society holds to each gender. Often men are expected to be players while women are expected to save themselves for the right man. “When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch” (Betty Davis). In the case of Monica Lewinsky, Bill Clinton walked away with his political career intact and Monica Lewinsky walked away known as the woman who gave the president a blowjob. Bill Clinton was commended for swooning a 22-year-old woman, and Monica Lewinsky was socially destroyed for almost ruining a marriage. It's interesting how two people who play the same role in an indiscretion experience such skewed reactions. Megan Carpentier stated, "Imagine having your whole life defined by the worst guy you ever blew.” Although the idea is a bit graphic, women are so heavily defined by the way they choose to live their private lives is the backbone to why Bill Clinton is still prominent political figure of Monica Lewinsky can barely get a job. Monica Lewinsky -- being a woman -- contributed so much to the way she was publicly shamed. If a woman had been president and a younger man was caught having an affair with her it would be the woman that lost all her political notoriety because women are expected to hold themselves to a higher standard than men. Two people were caught in the same regrettable action: one may reenter the White House and the other is the most famous adulterer of the 21st century.

Too often, the root of public shaming lies in people using mass media to connect with a bigger audience who together have the power to bring attention to an issue and generate outrage. In the case of Monica Lewinsky, we have a young woman whose entire life was defined by media outrage that focused entirely on American family values without taking into account her personality. Mass media creates the norm that when specific people act inappropriately, it justifies destroying them using media outlets. The problem with mass media is that the outrage of one person confined sanction in the general public that might have absolutely no connection to that original person. All a person needs is 10 people who think the way they are acting is inappropriate to tweet about it and suddenly it's viral and you have crowds of people condemning a person they don't even know. Charlotte Ottawa once stated, "We have become addicted to a form of socializing in which we are always being updated and evaluated.” Social media and mass media create a new genre of mob mentality. So much of mass media and social media is only surface level and by taking away the death in people and who they truly are, it's a lot easier for crowds of people to forget that the people they're shaming online are more than the single moment that everyone is defining them by.

Monica Lewinsky was a 22-year-old who made a mistake. People didn't really hear in the news how she was a college student who managed to get an internship in the White House, but instead, the media defined her as the woman who was about to ruin American family values in the most famous family house in the country. The fact that Lewinsky is a woman only made the media comments harsher. People focused on her looks, the issue of oral sex, and how she didn't live up to people's standard of the woman. What social media did to Monica Lewinsky strip her of all her intellectual depth and defined her by her actions in the bedroom and the fact that she was a woman.

In a patriarchal society, it is often noted that women are held to higher standard than men. In the case of Monica Lewinsky, it is evident that Bill Clinton's gender and his role as president created a blame circus that accused Lewinsky of facilitating the entire encounter. Because the media circus surrounding the Clinton Family, the gender inequality that exists in American culture, and the use of mass media to project the issue to all corner of the globe the Lewinsky shaming is known to be the first Mass media driven shaming in history. Unfortunately, patriarchal bias allowed Bill Clinton to further his career, and possibly reenter the White House, whereas the same rhetoric has kept Monica Lewinsky famous for oral sex.