Letters to the Editor
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NO ONE IS SAYING THAT JUST BECAUSE YOU SUPPORT OBAMA, YOU'RE A SEXIST
Or just because you dislike Hillary, you hate women.
NO ONE is saying that, and everyone arguing against that strawman just proves the article's point.
And another corollary point: complaining about racism is ok, complaining about sexism? It's "whining," always. "Whining," when used to describes talking about sexism, is a way to dismiss women's complaints. It's patronizing, it's belittling, it's almost sexist in itself, as women are usually the most accused of whining (in contexts beyond sexism).
Why can't we talk about sexism, y'all? Why can't we talk about 10 times, 20 times? What's so wrong with that?
Everyone now is saying "it's not that she's a woman, it's that she's Hillary." Well! This thesis will be tested the next time a woman runs for president and actually does well enough to possibly win. I can almost guarantee it that people will be saying, "it's not that she's a woman, it's that she's Kathleen Sebelius" or whatever, and everyone who was around now will remember that and see that it was all BS back in 2008, that it really was just underlying sexism. For an example of this, look up Attila the Hen (Thatcher's nickname before 'Iron Lady'), or more recently, what Nancy Pelosi faced when she was becoming Speaker of the House.
The sexims against Hillary isn't overt, it doesn't go "i hate women, i hate hillary." It's much more complicated -- people are looking at her with their ideals of what a WOMAN leader should be like, they find her attractive because she exhibits qualities that people find unattractive in women, such as ruthlessness, cynicism, scheming, Bismarkian moves. But it's not just that these qualities are fatal to a woman's image for these people (where in men they are tolerable, if not loved). It's that they're scary too -- that the woman has all this power and influence. It doesn't gel with their images of women, and they can feel this incongruence, and it makes them uncomfortable, and that's the core of the "dislike" against Hillary.
These same people, when they say, "it's that she's a woman, it's that she's hillary" are implying that they would have no problem voting for a woman for president if it were a different woman who they thought would be a good president. But this perfect female candidate is a unicorn. It's unlikely that these people will ever feel comfortable with a candidate who is both ambitious and smart enough to run for president and is a woman. Usually, those ambitious and smart people aren't very cuddly and feminine.
So, the next time you hear "I just don't like Pelosi" or Condi or Diane Feinstein, I think it's safe to say it has everything to do with the above.
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@softdog p 46 thank you
Divisive articles like these don't help Clinton, they don't help Obama, they don't help the Democratic party. But they do help the sort of animosity and poor thinking which may ensure more years of Republican rule.
Thank you!!!
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I can identify with this article.
There are a lot of people out there who claim that sexism and racism don't exist anymore. Obviously there are many reasons why it's ridiculous to say this, but just taking a look at this campaign provides enough examples that both are alive and well. To be honest, I think they exist in pretty equal measure, but there is a sense when it comes to sexism that you don't have to hide it. For instance, one day I logged onto facebook, only to see this question staring me in the face: "Could a woman do as good a job at being president as a man?" 25% said no. I can't imagine facebook ever asking if a person of color could perform the job of president as well as a white person could.
I'm a white woman, and I'm supporting Hillary. Although almost all of my friends are Hillary supporters as well, I can definitely identify with this article. I was out at a bar a while back when two older Irish men came up to our table. Somehow, one of them started talking politics with me, and when I mentioned that I preferred Hillary, he was shocked. "Oh, you're just voting for her because she's a woman," he said.
I was livid. I would love to see a woman president, or a black president, for that matter. The idea is very exciting to me, but I would never decide who to vote for based on their sex or race. When I asked this man why he was so against Hillary, he mentioned the war. I said I didn't agree with her choice, but that Obama wasn't a senator at the time, so it's easy for him to say he wouldn't have done the same. This guy scoffed at me and told me that Obama WAS senator at the time, and he most definitely DID vote against the war. He had me doubting myself, but, needless to say, I was right.
It's upsetting, but what upsets me most is when Obama supporters claim that they'll vote for McCain if Clinton gets the nomination. It just goes to show that it's become more about personality than issues. "Anyone but Bush" has been replaced by "Anyone but HER."
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To be frank....
It matters not one whit to me that Hillary is female. And yet I do viscerally dislike her -- and are slowly coming to dislike her supporters, who appear unable to realize that my visceral dislike of her has nothing to do with her sex and everything to do with her behavior.
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Rebecca Traister Rules
I have a 39-year-old single daughter doing postgraduate work and a married 41-year-daughter stay at home mother with 3 kids. The 39 year old supports Obama, and the oldest daughter supports Hillary. But both have become born-again feminists over the way Hillary has been portrayed and pilloried in the media. I think it has mobilized women who never thought misogyny was such a big deal anymore; after all, wasn't the feminism of old warhorses like me (wow, description made me feel attractive this morning, along with the implication we should be put out to pasture) no longer relevant? This morning, I ran into an enlightened intelligent hip filmmaker male friend who on spotting my Hillary bumper sticker, laughed and said, "You're not STILL supporting her, are you?" I was not at all embarrassed to say "yes, down to the wire" and if Hillary loses, I'll leave the sticker on my car to remind myself that the struggle against misogyny continues in a hundred small ways for women as powerful as Hillary, but more important, in-life-and-death ways for women who don't have a voice, like the victims of rape in Darfur.