In the 1990s, sexual harassment became a highly visibile part of American pop culture. In 1991, Anita Hill testified in a televised United States Senate hearing that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her when she worked for him in the early 1980s at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Thomas was confirmed, but by a very close vote of 52-48. Some of the Senators who voted for confirmation were defeated for re-election in 1992. In 1994, Paul Corbin Jones accused President William Jefferson Clinton of sexually harassing her when he was Governor of Arkansas and she was an Arkansas state employee. In 1998, Jones' lawsuit was dismissed, but a deposition President Clinton gave about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern, triggered an investigation by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr that resulted in Starr recommending to the United States Congress that President Clinton be impeached.

Sexual harassment...