Well said; and I couldn't agree more.
I am turning 40 this summer and have felt an overwhelming despair at the ugliest, most destructive form of sexism of all on display throughout this campaign...the pervasive language that runs through the pundits and so-called 'journalists' words. Sadly, this is the framework that shapes the opinion of all too many americans who are absorbing, but not processing, these comments.
Ugh. I pray for the world my daughter is going to face.
Very well said indeed. When I first saw the Oliphant cartoon, I remember thinking how you just wouldn't see a cartoonist depicting a black "Mr President" in racist stereotypes: too lazy, ignorant, busy eating watermelon, etc. to deal with "bad guys.". But for some reason, a "Madam" President is still open game. (I kept waiting, by the way, for PMS quips.) I sometimes wonder if Hillary didn't get hit with a double whammy: anti-women shit AND racist shit, safely sublimated into slams against her. After all, if you're angry or upset about a black man running for president but realize that it isn't cool to spew racism, what better way to blow off some steam than to go after safe(r)targets: women.
sorry. anonymous is me.
HRC became a national figure in her capacity as a wife. The media view of someone who doesn't emerge in that way and who has a more boring husband than hers may not be so oriented toward her womanhood. At least, we could hope. Also it could be interesting if the next woman running were a 6' 2" Olympic medalist, because Dukakis was disparaged for his stature and Bill Clinton for not having been a warrior. Part of the "problem" with being a female candidate for the presidency is liable to be a conception of women as puny and cowering, which by cognitive dissonance might just be harder to hold while facing a woman in judo stance or with a javelin in her hand. Perhaps a woman's oratory and governing style could be stereotypically feminine as all get out if she were perceived to have credentials of a physical/warrior kind. If the time hasn't arrived to elect a short man, it may be awhile also for physically merely average women.
Hillary was treated shamefully. Fact of the matter is, it's silly to think that many women - especially women in the Democratic Party - won't remember some of the things said to them as they faithfully advocated for their candidate. See:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d...h?
v=dUyce6224Mk
I'm not surprised. No one should be.
Great post. The "lifestyle" columnist in our local paper today played the "I don't get why women are so angry" card today, and I wanted to e-mail him with a simple Fuck You. I'm tired of being blamed because other men just don't "get it." They don't want to get it, no matter how much we try to explain.
A few weeks back on TOTN they played a clip from a video floating around youtube that contained a collection of pundits, on air, saying some pretty terribly sexist things about Hillary. I still can’t find that video. Hearing it really opened my eyes. I guess on one level I’m personally disappointed that I would have to hear a slew of these comments, back to back, to realize that gender bias played a role in this primary. It was actually the first time that I heard much of it since I don’t watch political TV, and I don’t think that I would have been ok with these comments on an individual basis. I still can’t shake the feeling that I had heard at least some of it, but wasn’t really HEARING what these people were actually saying. There is something really wrong about that.
If anyone out there has a link for this video please let me know. I would like to send it out to some folks. Try as I may I think this is just one of those things that is much easier to show than to explain.
It's disgusting, and it's still going on. Did you catch the NY Times article on sexism in the campaign accompanied by a large photo of Hillary's cleavage, with her head cut off, surrounded by a million microphones.
I'm glad this all came out, because women now can't continue to fool themselves .
that would never justify sexism--EVER.
You can never justify something which is fundamentally unjust.
because women now can't continue to fool themselves .
I find your lack of faith disturbing. Of course they can fool themselves. We can always fool ourselves. It's what we do.
To summarize: women seeking positions of authority and power can't win for losing. If they don't embrace the feminine they've ice queens, and if they do then they're too soft. If they try to ride the line, then they don't appeal to anyone.
Hi,
I am a woman, and an Indian national living in the US for the last 2 years and have been witness to the politics of your country, including the Obama_clinton debate.
I come from a country, where women are exploited horrifically, and with the high rates of female foeticide,(a baby girl is killed the moment she is born)the sex ratio is alarmingly skewed.Amongst a huge section of Indian society, girls are largely considered a "liability" and issues of dowry deaths are an unfortunate reality.
Having said that, we've had some amazingly popular(and powerful) women political leaders, includng Mrs Indira Gandhi, the first woman prime minister of India.
Apart from her(and Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan) the number of women calling the top shots in India, the largest democracy in the world....is huge!
When I first came to the US initially, I admired the fact that women and men(seemed) to be equal, in terms of opportunities for education, jobs etc....
and indeed they are.
But as I see, America struggle with issues of race/gender for the top job....it bothers me.
Is this the land that is supposed to be a shining beacon for truth and equality?
Is it really all that it purports to be?
Perhaps societies the world over are not so different after all.
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