Letters to the Editor
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Youth v Experience
The younger generation has never been told that they shouldn't get paid as much as their male co-workers because they don't have "a family to support" and have never had to try to make progress in a company that thinks that women should all be beautiful and bubbly. They think that they're feminists because they've marched in a couple of "take back the night" marches (as if only feminists can be opposed to rape) and because they can tell a man that he has to wear a condom.
I realized that female Obama supporters didn't "get it" when none reacted negatively when Jesse Jackson Jr., Obama's national campaign co-chair, suggested that Hillary Clinton "cried" in order to gain voter sympathy. This was sexism at it's worst. Obama has been showing emotion every day on the campaign trail, and is known for his passion. Clinton was being insulted as an "ice queen". Yet when Clinton opens up and shows a bit of feeling it proves not that she isn't cold but that she is so calculating that she is willing to manipulate voters with tears. That should resonate with any feminist who has been accused by a man of crying in order to manipulate him, or has had to withhold her emotions because she woudln't be considered professional if she showed the same kind of emotions that men are encouraged to show.
Feminism is about more than being paid the same. It's about being allowed to be women and still be paid the same as men. It's about "rhymes with witch" and "shrew" being as socially unacceptable as "ni**er" and "boy". It's about not thinking that the ability to lead, a willingness to fight, and being tough are "masculine" qualities, and women who have those qualities are somehow "less" than women who are more passive. It's about not assuming that women's roles are limited to support positions and we shouldn't put ourselves forward as leaders.
I can understand how women can support Obama. I cannot understand how they can not criticize Obama for some of the sexist attacks that have come out of his campaign. Or how they can think that only old feminists would care. They are going to have to deal with the same issues we are, eventually. Their heads will bump up against the glass ceiling, and they'll have to battle a man for a position under rules that are completely unfair. They should be fighting the sexist sterotypes even if they don't agree with Clinton's politics.