Hillary Clinton tells Humans of New York why she comes across as cold

Hillary Clinton.
(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

After Hillary Clinton's appearance at the Commander-in-Chief Forum on Wednesday night, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus tweeted that the former secretary of state "was angry [and] defensive the entire time — no smile and uncomfortable."

In addition to being a criticism far too often leveled at women, Priebus' comment that Clinton lacked a smile summed up the entire perception of her as cold, robotic, and removed — a perception Clinton says she developed for the sake of survival. In a moving testimony she relayed to Humans of New York in a post published Thursday, Clinton recounted her experience taking a Harvard law school admissions test with a friend, when the pair were set upon by male harassers: "I had to learn as a young woman to control my emotions ... And that's a hard path to walk. Because you need to protect yourself, you need to keep steady, but at the same time you don't want to seem 'walled off' […] But if that sometimes is the perception I create, then I can't blame people for thinking that."

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.