FILE - In this Feb. 12, 2011, file photo, then-Rep. Mary Bono, R-Calif., listens at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington. One current and three former female members of Congress tell The Associated Press they have been sexually harassed or subjected to hostile sexual comments by their male colleagues while serving in the House. For years Bono endured the increasingly suggestive comments from a fellow lawmaker in the House. But when the congressman approached her on the House floor and told her heâd been thinking about her in the shower, sheâd had enough. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - One current and three former female members of Congress tell The Associated Press they have been sexually harassed or subjected to hostile sexual comments by their male colleagues while serving in the House.
The revelations come amid an intensifying national focus on sexual harassment and gender hostility in the workplace, and underscore that no woman is immune, even at the highest reaches of government.
The incidents occurred years or even decades ago, usually when the women were young newcomers to Congress. They range from isolated comments at one hearing, to repeated unwanted come-ons, to lewd remarks and even groping on the House floor.
Speaking on the record were current Rep. Linda Sanchez of California and former Sen. Barbara Boxer, former Rep. Mary Bono and former Rep. Hilda Solis.
FILE - In this March 10, 2011, file photo, Rep. Jackie Speier D-Calif., listens to testimony during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. One current and three former female members of Congress tell The Associated Press they have been sexually harassed or subjected to hostile sexual comments by their male colleagues while serving in the House. Speier of California has recently gone public with an account of being sexually assaulted by a male chief of staff while she was a congressional staffer. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Oct. 29, 2016, file photo, then-Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., speaks to volunteers at a home serving as a canvassing site to train and organize supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Cincinnati. One current and three former female members of Congress tell The Associated Press they have been sexually harassed or subjected to hostile sexual comments by their male colleagues while serving in the House. âThis is about power,â said Boxer, after describing an incident at a hearing in the 1980s where a male colleague made a sexually suggestive comment. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this July 25, 2016 file photo, Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., speaks during the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. One current and three former female members of Congress tell The Associated Press they have been sexually harassed or subjected to hostile sexual comments by their male colleagues while serving in the House. âWhen I was a very new member of Congress in my early thirties, there was a more senior member who outright propositioned me, who was married, and despite trying to laugh it off and brush it aside it would repeat. And I would avoid that member,â said Sanchez. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Aug. 27, 2008 file photo, then-Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., waves as she speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. One current and three former female members of Congress tell The Associated Press they have been sexually harassed or subjected to hostile sexual comments by their male colleagues while serving in the House. Solis, now a Los Angeles County supervisor, recalls repeated unwanted harassing overtures from one lawmaker, though she declined to name him or go into detail. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)
The Associated Press