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This story connected with me. For the past 2 years I have participated in a political thread that include hard-core conservative Bush-supporters. They have spent the entire time personally attacking me, calling me every stinking name, including typical conservative rhetorical names (anti-American, commi, etc...). It would get as bad that by just pasting a link (with no commentary), it would kick off 3-4 responses that didn't address the article, but just attacked me. Now the other posters, and yes, they are men, flew above the radar; and no matter how mean-spirited and snarky they would get with these conservatives, they would never get attacked.
The misogyny that exists in our society is real. Hilary is currently the biggest illustration of that. She is smarter, more capable, more intellectual and confident than most men out there. And she's hated because of it (please, I'm not talking about her stance on the Iraq war, so don't focus on that issue). On the other hand, conservatives adore Laura Bush. Glassy-eyed, stand-by-her-man, vacuous Laura Bush. She is their shining star.
For a long time I couldn't understand how woman like Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter managed to get so much support from a predominantly male-base. I mean, they get nastier than any liberal, male or female, I've read or heard. But, I realize that fundamentally, these women do not use their power to expose and exercise their independent minds, but to fulfill their marching orders from the men who make them.
I have since left that political thread. I did try to discover any value that came of engaging with this misogyny (did it make me stronger? am I a better writer? can I argue my points better?). Ultimately, the disturbing pit in my stomach outweighed any sort of stimulation it caused on my adrenaline.
I'm preparing myself for a long hard year of misogyny being played out on the national political landscape over Hilary. I know I will be angry about it, but its a fact of life that you have to accept. I am not one of those feminists that back Hilary blindly because she is a woman, but I am open to her making her case as the best candidate out there. I try to tell people who don't like Hilary because she is too polarizing, "look, if you believe that, then you lay credibility of what's been said about her, at the feet of the very people who have lied about everything for the past 6 years. Keep an open mind."
