Letters to the Editor
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Dictatorial Feminism
At the core of feminism is a belief that rights to opportunity, power, and self-determination should not be qualified by gender. Nor should the right to vote according to the complex matrix of one’s personal values and opinions. Blindly voting for a woman just to break another political barrier, regardless of how important that barrier is, essentially just means we’ve bowed to a different autocrat. In considering presidential candidates, my pacifism trumps just about any other value I hold, and would make it hard for me to vote for Hillary. If she ends up being the Democratic candidate, I will vote for her – but only because my values skew far to the left of any conceivable Republican candidate’s agenda. The primaries are a different story.
But even putting that aside for a moment, I’m not altogether convinced Hillary’s presidency would de facto create a better socioeconomic climate for women. What’s “feminist’ about her statement quoted in the beginning of this piece that starts with "I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas..” ? Nothing like slinging a bit of ridiculing, stereotyping, demeaning rhetoric toward full-time mothers! It hardly qualifies as the kind of respectful phrase a true feminist would utter about her sisters.