« previous | TPM CAFÉ READER POSTS HOME | next »
Sexism & Racism (I hesitate to even write this...)
In a Washington Post article today, Hillary Clinton talks to the sexism she has encountered during her run for the White House. One guy yelled to her to "Iron his shirt". As an African-American MALE, I say, he needs to be smacked with the iron and then made to iron his own damned shirt.
The thing I find interesting about the article is Senator Clinton's willingness to go on record with her (very legitimate) gripes on the issue. I then wonder if Barack Obama did an article talking of the racism he's faced, how would that play. I've noticed Clinton has been running on "let's go ladies" type of mantra lately. I don't know that this is costing her votes. Imagine Obama running on "come on black people". My belief is that this would cost him votes.
Let me be clear that arguments can be made for either prejudice to claim the status of most damaging.
In history, women, while not in chains, were made to stay home and "iron shirts", tend to children and tend to injuries of the body and soul of the entire family. Blacks, while in chains, were made to tend to the crops of that home, trying to hold on to any body and soul they have left. Today, women bang their heads against a glass ceiling all too often. While a select few blacks can earn millions shooting a ball through a hoop or running down a field with one.
I'm married to a half Italian, half Irish woman (when she's angry the hands and words are flying everywhere. I just duck), two daughters and a son in between (he gets it from both sides. I just stay out of the way). I get a front row seat in my own family to the damaging effects of both kinds of prejudice. They are fights we take on often, but they are righteous fights that will only help those that follow us. The democratic party has two great examples of what a righteous fight can bare.
I'm an Obama supporter, and I'm against the unity ticket for different reasons, but that does not mean these are not fights that Obama and Clinton can't fight together. Me and mine will be right there fighting with them. Join us?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051902729.html
Comments (9)
I would like to see a list of misogynistic attacks on Clinton from the media and Obama surrogates. If she's complaining about the man who yelled "Iron my shirt" then she is really grasping at straws. Now if she is talking about the voters on the campaign trail, well then Obama canvassers have been met with equally abusive racist language, Obama had one of his campaign offices vandalized with racist messages. She is trying to play the victim here, not accepting blame for the fact her campaign fizzled. She started out as the strong favorite after all - where was the misogyny then? Where was the misogyny when Dodd, Biden, Richardson and Edwards were all neglected by the MSM and pushed off the stage?
If anything Clinton has benefited from being a woman in the race, and now she is using the fact to play the victim. I believe it is utterly ridiculous.
Isn't the Dem party 55-56% woman? So is she saying all women who vote for Obama are enablers? Or that woman voters should vote for the woman candidate or they are gender traitors? Whenever something wasn't going her way she played up the "woman card" I remember her making a statement to the effect of "the boys ganging up on her" early in the debate season, seemingly unaware that the front runner is usually attacked in debates. She has also at other times played up the fact that maybe it's time for a woman to be in the white house. She has also had "Celebrating Women" rallys/fundraisers that she brought Chelsea and her mother to. Could you see McCain or Edwards having a man-only rally or fundraiser?
I still think all this talk is just her latest ploy to try and force her way on to the Obama presidential ticket.
May 20, 2008 10:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
HRC says that sexism is worse than racism.
I am sickened by these statements.
I am a woman of French - Irish descent....
My Great -great-great (great) grand father was a signer to The Constitution.
I am proudly and blissfully married to an African-American man.
To say that sexism is as bad as racism makes me laugh.
I agree that their is a glass ceiling in America for women and it is sad.
The truth is that there is still a steel boot for African-Americans.
Looks at some of the facts.
Women are less likely to get the CEO job.
African-Americans are less likely to even get a job.
Women are more likely to be harassed by a police officer or a supervisor.
African-Americans are more likely to be beaten, or shot by a police officer or to go to jail.
Women are less likely to be inadequately paid even as teachers for the service they provide.
African-Americans are less likely to graduate from high school.
Women are less likely to get a good and fair settlement in a divorce hearing in front of a judge.
African-Americans get longer sentences in front of a judge.
I don't remember reading about any woman being lynched in the south.
I don't remember hearing about women being forced to sit on the back of the bus because they where woman.
Hillary has brought out the worst in this country with her race baiting "Hard Working Americans, White Americans" and...
Has proven everything that the Republicans had said about the Clinton's is true.
May 21, 2008 8:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
I was, frankly, appalled to see the Post recapitulate the "iron my shirt" incident without qualification or explanation. It's the only time in the campaign (to my knowledge) that a heckler has made an explicitly sexist comment to Hillary herself. And what the Post ought to have mentioned is that it was a stunt put together by a local radio station to gin up publicity and ratings. The heckler was a paid employee, instructed to go to the rally and to disrupt it using a decades-old slogan. The result was, ironically, a public relations coup for Hillary - the incident has been endlessly cited by supporters, and pops up in every story chronicling the role played by gender in the campaign. It may even have helped to tip the scales in New Hampshire, keeping her candidacy alive at a time when it was on the ropes.
Now it bears saying that WBCN didn't send someone to yell a racist slogan at Obama - clearly, there was a layer of misogyny in its audience that it was trying to exploit. But focusing on this single, entirely unrepresentative incident only serves to obscure the complex role that gender has played in this cycle. Without her explicit appeals made on the basis of gender, Hillary would not have won a single state - her core voters, right through the campaign, have been white women older than 40. They identify with her experience, and she's been very careful to frame her candidacy in terms that emphasize her struggles in a man's world. At the same time, she has undeniably faced sexism, both from the media and the electorate. Female candidates are held to different standards - their dress and appearance are considered fair game for coverage, their spouses are treated differently, and they tend to be seen as either too effeminate (and thus too weak) or too manly (and thus bitchy). It's an entirely unfair system. And we needn't engage in comparative victimology, either - the obstacles facing Hillary are significant and lamentable, irrespective of what her rival faces.
What complicates this picture is that Hillary hasn't tried to run a gender-neutral campaign. She has gladly seized every iota of political advantage conferred by her gender, and yet loudly complained (through surrogates, and now directly) about the obstacles it has placed in her path. Why is it acceptable for a woman to vote for Hillary on the basis of her gender, but unnacceptable for that same voter to choose a male candidate on the basis of gender? That's an uncomfortable question, but one with which we might all profitably wrestle.
May 20, 2008 10:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
What about all the talk about her having "testicular fortitude" from one surrogate, and then James Carville saying she had bigger balls than Obama (or whatever he said) - Isn't it her supporters and surrogates being misogynistic here?
May 20, 2008 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
Woman: I have testicular fortitude and bigger balls than you.
Man: You're likeable enough, but no, your place is ironing my shirt. And if your claws come out periodically when you're feeling down, my gloves will come off.
May 20, 2008 11:51 AM | Reply | Permalink
Great Post, Craig!
But why do many folks today seem to think that every expression of resentment against a strong woman must be labeled "misogynist"? After all, "misogyny" means hatred of women. C'mon, now. "Iron my shirt" = "hatred of women"?
Personally I agree that the male press corps' disgusting attacks on Hillary for her teary moment in New Hampshire became so vicious that it smacked of true misogyny. I suspect there were other examples nearly as bad, but I cannot think of any other examples right now.
Hillary got a heck of a lot more votes from white voters - particularly older white voters - in WV and other parts of Appalachia who would never vote for a black candidate than she lost from voters who would never vote for a woman. And she shamelessly encouraged the race conscious thinking of those voters in her desperate last-ditch try to make up for the initial hubris and bad judgment of her campaign advisers and herself!
Whatever undercurrents played against Hillary in the campaign, her opponent never appealed to voters' misogyny to win votes for himself.
Hillary needs to grow up. A hallmark of maturity is to accept responsibility for your own mistakes, rather than blaming your failures on others who victimized you. She demeans herself as mcuh by playing the victim as she was every demeaned by the hateful attacks she sustained from any misogynist.
May 20, 2008 12:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just an aside question:
Can someone quote me some good ODDS on winning a national election in 2008 America that tries to base itself primarily on resolving the following critical national bread-and-butter issue:
Who has been more unjustly treated in American history: Blacks, or women?
May 20, 2008 12:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Have not seen any odds, but would guess it is a long shot. To start, they are not the over-riding kitchen table issues. Then, they are subjects the masses would not allow too much exposure to the light.
May 20, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Apparently prompted by party leadership,Clinton has basically stopped attacking Obama. If she can't attack, what else can she do to shore up her campaign? Stir up resentment about ill-treatment and unfairness, threaten that her disgruntled supporters may refuse to support Obama.
There have been several recent articles and op-eds that recite her litany of ill-treatment and suggest that Hillary supporters will rebel if their candidate isn't treated with kid gloves. If Obama celebrates winning a majority of pledged delegates, he'll be disrespectful. If anyone suggests that CLinton quits the race, women's wrath will come down on them. It's a veiled threat couched in feminist terms.
May 20, 2008 12:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Post a Comment