I don’t watch enough TV to judge their coverage…I caught some CNN and I caught some CBC, and aside from that I mostly read the wire stories and the New York Times online.
I may be too post-feminist for my own good, but how is it sexist to compare Hillary Clinton to Glenn Close’s bunny-boiler in Fatal Attraction? She’s a woman, being compared to a woman. The analogy, while unflattering, was to the character’s “never say die” attitude. Would it somehow have been better to compare her to an Energizer bunny, as in an animatronic, battery-powered plush toy? I simply don’t see sexism in that instance. If she were a he they could have compared to some male character in a horror movie that won’t die, and keeps coming back, and that wouldn’t have been sexist either.
I think whoever talked about her cleavage stepped over the line, unless it was an article about her fashion in Vogue or something…which I don’t think it was. On the other hand, if she had been inappropriately dressed at some point, then it would have been fair game, IMO.
What so many HRC supporters don’t seem to grasp is that she is not well liked by any number of people. And expressing one’s dislike of someone isn’t inherently sexist. Was Samantha Power calling her a monster sexist? No. That was off the record, too, but there’s no honour among journalists anymore.
Even people (like me) who weren’t particularly pro or con Hillary at the start of the primaries are permitted to look at the candidates, and decide that they prefer one to the others. Like, that’s the whole point of the primaries, isn’t it? and lo and behold, many many many of these people decided they liked Obama and what he represents better than they liked HRC and what she represents, and the whole train of baggage and bad times behind her, not to mention that attitude of anointment.
The fact that when we talk about a woman we use pronouns to indicate gender (we don’t like her) doesn’t actually make it sexist, Geraldine. And we don’t really like you much, either. Give us a female candidate with the charisma, oratory and personality of an Obama, and I expect people will flock to her, too.
But politics is all one big popularity contest, and your chosen candidate just isn’t one of the cool kids anymore.
Sexism?
June 21st, 2008 at 17:32
Deb,
I am no supporter of Hillary, and I think she made many serious errors in her campaign, but I agree fully that she has been subjected to sexism in the media and in the public sphere, to wit:
-the “cleavage controversy”
-the comparison by Chris Matthews to an attention starved stripper
-his calling her uppity, and his saying that her speeches grated on men’s nerves
-commentators stating that she was like “the first wife” the “nagging wife” etc
-selling potatoes branded “Hillary’s Balls”
-Hillary nutcrackers with the cracker between her legs sold at airports
-being referred to as “fishwifey” by Cheri Jacobi on national television
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-IrhRSwF9U
-men yelling “Iron my shirt” at her New Hampshire campaign speech
Watch this youtube link for a few more examples.
June 21st, 2008 at 17:54
Well, Chris was wrong on many levels–her speeches grated on my nerves, too :p (of course he says offensive things about people of both genders, AFAIK)
But as I said, I didn’t see a lot of the examples you cite. And I think the press ought to know better than to say things like that, really. Regardless of what they think privately, they shouldn’t be saying it publicly. I guess if you disdain a woman, though, it’s hard not to decry her using female-specific terms. I know I ended up disdaining her *shrug* and because she’s female, I end up mentally calling her a “cow”…would it be better to call her a jerk instead? isn’t a jerk inherently male? why isn’t it sexist to call a guy a jerk, then?
You know what I mean?
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:29
Absolutely, but I would have to draw a distinction between say, calling her a cow, and the constant implication that she is a ball breaking fishwife- many of the comments frankly implied that listening to a woman president exhorting the nation would be intolerable, because nobody wants to be nagged by a woman.
And the significance of Chris’ comments is that it grated on men’s nerves. He was referring specifically to a “barn-burning” style speech, and implied that men just weren’t going to take that from a woman.
Again, I don’t support Hillary, for many reasons. But she, and other women in power or who are ambitious, are being raked over the coals in the media over issues that have nothing to do with their platform, and I think that is reprehensible. : )