Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti is calling out Rudy Giuliani for misogynistic and dangerous comments he made about women in the adult film industry. In an attempt to discredit Daniels’ defamation case against the president, Giuliani said women like Daniels don’t deserve respect and lack credibility.
As the Daily Dot reports, Giuliani made these comments while speaking in Tel Aviv, Israel earlier this week.
“I don’t believe Stormy Daniels,” he said. “I’m sorry I don’t respect a porn star the way I respect a career woman or a woman of substance or a woman who has great respect for herself as a woman and as a person and isn’t going to sell her body for sexual exploitation. So, Stormy, you want to bring a case? Let me cross-examine you, because the business you are in entitles you to no degree of giving your credibility any weight. Secondly, explain to me how she can be damaged? She has no reputation. If you’re going to sell your body for money, you just don’t have a reputation. I may be old fashioned, I don’t know.”
He repeated these sentiments on CNN Thursday morning. “If you’re a feminist and you support the porn industry you should turn in your credentials,” he said.
Avenatti criticized Giuliani for these comments, calling him an “absolute pig” on CNN. “Somehow Rudy Giuliani thinks my client isn’t entitled to be believed because she was in the adult industry,” he said. “It’s disgusting, and this guy is an absolute pig.”
Giuliani’s comments may be part of a wider political strategy to discredit Daniels’ lawsuit against Trump, but they’re extremely dangerous for a population of women already fighting to be respected. Violence against women in sex work, whether it be the porn industry or prostitution, is pervasive partially due to dehumanizing comments like these. Sex work is a credible, professional industry, and women working in this field are deserving of more respect than Giuliani's comments afford them.
