Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Responds to Sexist ‘Backlash’ to Freezing Her Eggs

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) responded to the “backlash” against her announcement she was freezing her eggs by saying she doesn’t regret a thing, even though she said it was yet another example of her being unfairly scrutinized merely for being a woman.

The liberal lawmaker discussed her decision and the reaction to it in a series of videos posted to her Instagram on Saturday.

AOC said she was being asked, “Do I regret coming out publicly about this due to all of the political negativity and the larger political context, and especially this idea that for me I’m quite young in my career, especially when it comes to politics, and so would the backlash around this have any future impact on my career and do I regret it for those reasons?”

“The answer to that simply is no,” she answered. “I was born a woman, period. And I have no control over that, and I wouldn’t want to change that. And the way I feel is, any negativity or judgement that I would receive at any point is negativity that I would receive for being a woman, whether I shared this information or not. So I might as well help others.”

She then shrugged before continuing to share her thoughts on the matter. Ocasio-Cortez claimed she was well-prepared to deal with those who criticized her because she’s been dealing with a sexist double standard ever since she got into politics.

AOC said:

Another element of this is that ever since I was 28-years-old when I first won my primary, largely unexpectedly to the national media, I have been subject to personal scrutiny and dissection ever since. For years.

And it’s no secret to anyone that it’s been done in a way that is just simply not something my male colleagues have been subject to. And when you go through that level of national scrutiny the first time, it can be very unsettling. But I’ve gone through this so many times and for so many years, — and it’s not to say that it’s fair or right or that it isn’t hurtful — but I have the privilege of being more resilient to this kind of negativity than someone who hasn’t.

Ocasio-Cortez’s video comes a week after the 36-year-old Democratic lawmaker announced her decision to freeze her eggs on Instagram. She then discussed the decision on ABC’s This Week with co-anchor Jonathan Karl on August 9, and a few days later TMZ reported she had broken up with her longtime fiancé.

She said on Saturday she has been met with a lot of “negativity” for her decision to freeze her eggs and for speaking out as a woman, but she wasn’t going to back down from the haters.

“Anyways, long story short, I’m a woman. And I’m not going to ignore that fact when no one else does,” she said.

Watch above via Ocasio-Cortez’s Instagram.

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