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.
