Sisterhood in the Halls of Congress, and You’re Invited

Author: Maya Salam / Source: New York Times

“Speak truth, sis!”
— Rashida Tlaib to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, both newly elected congresswomen, in a message on Instagram

It was not terribly surprising this week when yet another one of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s

Twitter

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What caught my eye, though, was not the criticism she regularly levels at conservatives, but the validation — a digital fist-bump, almost — she received from her soon-to-be fellow Democratic congresswoman. “Speak truth, sis!” proclaimed Rashida Tlaib, of Michigan, responding to her tweet.

Some might say it was “Shine Theory” in action — a term coined by the feminist podcasters Ann Friedman and Aminatou Sow to describe women who make a concerted effort to support one another. (In Ms. Sow’s words: “I don’t shine if you don’t shine.”)

In fact, in an exchange of mutual admiration on Twitter on Wednesday, Ayanna Pressley, Massachusetts’s first African-American congresswoman,

Twitter

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It’s a camaraderie that’s been on full display among the Democratic newcomers since November’s election. Their message: We’re cool, we’re transparent and we’ve got each other’s backs.

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In particular, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, of New York — the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, at 29 — has been leading the charge to humanize politics and exposed some of the inner workings of Congress in a way that’s never been done, as my colleague Talya Minsberg recently put it.

Throughout the midterm primaries, congressional orientation and beyond, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has posted personal photos and Instagram videos (including live videos, some up to an hour long), effectively bringing her followers along for the ride. And her political cohorts have followed suit, attracting plenty of online attention.

A couple of weeks ago, in a lengthy post she titled “Congress Camp,” she outlined, in six steps, how party leadership is formally chosen. She also shared a video of herself with Ilhan Omar, a Minnesotan and one of the first two Muslim women ever elected to Congress.

“Ilhan and I showed up in the…

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