There has scarcely been a day in the past weeks without a high-powered man being accused of sexual misconduct—from harassment all the way to rape—in the workplace.
Across industries and geography, the common thread is that all of the accused perpetrators are men. Which is why Dana Nessel, who is running to become Michigan’s attorney general in 2018, is asking voters this question in her latest campaign ad:
“Who can you trust most NOT to show you their penis in a professional setting? Is it the candidate who doesn’t have a penis?”
“I’d say so,” Nessel answers herself in the video.
It’s a joke, but one aimed at actual gender-based objections to her candidacy, like that Michigan Democrats “can’t have an all female ticket for statewide office in 2018.”
The local Democratic candidate for governor is Gretchen Whitmer, and Democrat Jocelyn Benson is running against sitting Republican Ruth Johnson for secretary of state.
As the video shows press clips of accusations against Donald Trump, Roy Moore and Charlie Rose. Nessel, who has worked in law for 25 years, and often litigated on behalf of LGBTQ citizens, promises, “I will not sexually harass my staff, and I won’t tolerate it in your workplace either, I won’t walk around in a half open bathrobe […] you won’t find me using your hard-earned tax dollars to silence victims.”