In ten very satisfying minutes yesterday, New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) wiped the House floor clean with Tea Party Republican Ted Yoho. Ocasio-Cortez’s response to the Florida representative’s recent misogynistic comments (and his subsequent non-apology) was much more than a liberal “lesson in decency.” It was a blistering, eloquent indictment of an entire edifice of societal chauvinism and workplace harassment in the United States — and proof, once again, of the benefit of having democratic socialists in office.

Earlier this week, Yoho — who recently voted against making lynching a hate crime — told Ocasio-Cortez she was “disgusting,” “crazy,” and “dangerous” on the steps of the Capitol for her comments linking crime rates to poverty. He then called her a “fucking bitch” in front of the press. On Wednesday morning on the House floor, Yoho recited a non-apology for the “abrupt manner” in which he spoke to Ocasio-Cortez, while explaining that he “cannot apologize for my passion or for loving my God, my family, and my country.”

On Thursday morning, AOC tore Yoho to shreds. But more to the point, she went after the societal norms that accept misogyny. “This is not new,” she said, speaking on the House floor. “And that is the problem.” Ocasio-Cortez recounted the harassment that she faced when she waited tables and tended bars. She went on to explain: “This issue is not about one incident. It is cultural. It is a culture of. . . . impunity, of accepting violence and violent language against women and an entire structure of power that supports that.”