AS leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson has miraculously rehabilitated the party in the eyes of voters. Her own journey has been no less remarkable - but will it end at Westminster? In the March issue of #NewVogue, Decca Aitkenhead talks to the politician about becoming the poster girl for detoxification of the Tory brand, her sexuality - she is widely tipped to become not just her party's future leader, but the country's first openly gay prime minister - and the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
“I was absolutely shocked," she told Aitkenhead of the sexual harassment claims that have enveloped Hollywood. "I had no idea. [Harvey Weinstein] was famous as an out-of-control bully, but then lots of people are in the film industry. They have to be very, very driven to get anything done, so it’s not that unheard of. I never saw it myself, that rage, or even saw it from a distance being perpetrated on someone I knew. But I heard about it. But the whole sexual side I had absolutely no idea about.”
“Not everyone knew," she added. "Do you think Obama would have sent his daughter to intern with Harvey if it had been generally known? Absolutely not. But who did know? I guess that’s the point, that it happened behind closed doors, so those it happens to think they’re the only ones. And they stay silent.”
In another exclusive excerpt from the Vogue interview, Davidson touched on the fact she had endured similar behaviour in her own field: “Yes. Yes. I just thought it was what men did, what men were like," she shared. "I never questioned whether I should stand up to men who behaved like that to me. I tried to not let it get to me, but when I was very young, it ground me down. I felt like a piece of meat that had no value. It happened here, it happened there, then you’d go on a date with a guy and it happened again. And I started blaming myself. Maybe it’s me? Maybe I am putting something out there that I am not aware of? Maybe it is my fault?”
References: Vogue
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