Real Talk.
As a person born with male genitalia, I don't pretend to understand the nuances of sexism in America. Much like those born with white privilege who think racism is a figment of the imagination, being a man often means being completely oblivious to the sorts of things women encounter on the daily this male dominated world.
As I've watched the aftermath of the Democratic nomination fade into the rearview mirror, it's puzzled me that the same question of whether or not That Woman's supporters will fall behind Obama, choose McCain, or not vote at all, persists. Recent polls show Barry with a sizable advantage among women overall, which would seem to indicate that quite a few women have "gotten over it" already.
But of course, there are many who haven't. The venom spewed by some of That Woman's supporters has been downright scary. Who could forget the infamous Harriet Christian outburst? There are still many women's coalitions that are actively planning to boycott at the Democratic National Convention in August. Many pro-That Woman blogs have switched allegiance squarely to McCain.
The Washington Post recently explored the dynamic of female voters who can't get over their recent loss.
While Clinton and Obama are scheduled to campaign together today in the symbolic New Hampshire town of Unity, many in this loose confederation of nonconformists have embraced a mantra that runs counter to the notion of reconciliation: "Party Unity My Ass." They have taken to calling themselves "Pumas" and have adopted as their logo -- on T-shirts and Facebook pages -- the portrait of a snarling cougar. Though not all have the same specific grievances or agree on a course of protest, they are linked by their dissatisfaction with the primary process and its result, and are unpersuaded by the gestures of heroine Hillary.For the life of me, I haven't been able to fathom why these women don't look at $5/gallon gas, a war killing their sons, the cost of health care, etc., and "just get over it".
Several groups are planning marches in Denver, the site of this summer's Democratic National Convention. Others are organizing a Clinton write-in campaign or have switched to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), creating sites to promote his candidacy. Some have more targeted interests, such as establishing an ongoing critique of misogyny in the media, pressing for changes in Democratic National Committee rules on delegate selection, even the ouster of national party chairman Howard Dean. "Howard Dean is running this party like it is a Soviet-style dictatorship," fumed Faith Chatham, a Clinton delegate to the Texas Democratic convention.
In Texas, where the complaints about party leadership have been persistent and noisy, some Clinton stalwarts are trying to mount challenges to the Democratic caucus results. "It ain't over," said Harriet Irby, a longtime Democratic precinct chairwoman in Tarrant County, claiming there were many irregularities and insisting that she will sit out the presidential election if Obama is the nominee, and vote only for down-ballot Democrats this fall.
After watching this video, though, I think I'm beginning to understand.
I'll freely admit that I watched quite a few of those news shows, and heard quite a few of those comments broadcast in real time. Seldom, if ever, did it occur to me that what was being said might be painfully offensive to many women, just as watching Fox News desecrate the Black church and insult Black America repeatedly has been painful to me.
But watching the montage of sexist remark after sexist remark gives me some small window into how hard it might be for many of That Woman's supporters to "just get over it". If the shoe were on the other foot, I would likely feel the same.[1] I sorta, kinda get it now.
The big problem here is that That Woman's supporters are taking their anger out on Obama, not the culprits themselves (the media). Obama endured months of racially tinged insults that came directly from That Woman, her husband, and many of their direct surrogates. It's all quite thoroughly documented.
The most you could say in inverse is that Obama was off base with that "you're plenty likable Hillary" comment, but that's (in my sexist opinion) peanuts compared to being called a secret Muslim who only benefited from affirmative action, and may be killed at any moment.
Why then, are these women taking their aggression out on a Presidential candidate who shares virtually all the same positions as their fallen candidate of choice, when this candidate hardly did anything personally to offend them? I can't really say, but I'm guessing it's simply easier to take your frustrations out on an inadequate black male than to fight the institutional media bias itself.
Then again, maybe it's just momentary sour grapes.
So, while I think the anger and disillusionment of That Woman's supporters is completely misguided, I do on some abstract testosterone-laiden level understand it a bit better now.
And since I'm trying to turn a page and be more sensitive to "the other half", I guess it's time to bury a hatchet of my own.
She's no longer That Woman. She's back to being Hillary Rodham Clinton again.
Question: Even if their anger is misguided, do you understand or sympathize with Hillary Clinton's supporters? Do you think sexism was as rampant as racism in this year's race for the Democratic nomination?
Hill, Yes! O., No! [Washington Post]
[1] The shoe's not on the other foot (Obama won), but I still do feel the same (that the media and the Clintons treated him like crap), so I hope I didn't undermine my own point.
Bonus: Harriet Christian - Civil Rights Advocate/ Menthol Cigarette Smoker
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No to both questions. I'm a black, Muslim woman... The Black and Muslim part won out. Sure, I should try to be sympathetic but still don't understand why they cling to the issue. She is done, get over it. The video only made me laugh, it didn't exactly soften my views.
I think the answer to this question depends on where you fall on the spectrum. If you are a white woman, then sexism may be where you experience issues. If you are black and female, as I am, well the -ism you've likely been taught and conditioned to be alert to is racism.
As a result, all those negative comments about women wash right over me and the negative ones about my race sting.
And frankly, on most issues Obama and Hillary don't diverge much, so if they choose to vote for McCain and not vote for the Dems, then they are proving what has been said about them, which is: woman make decisions based on emotion and not logic and that's why they can't be trusted to run the country.
When you party contains elements dedicated to victimhood as an identifying feature, and you pit two of those groups against each other for power in a party that has claimed to be sympathetic to, and the salvation of, both groups... you're going to end up with some victim-status self-identifiers who feel betrayed.
To just get over it would require they shift their worldview dramatically away from the things they consider core beliefs and fundamental understanding about the way the world works.
@singlikesassy:
Perhaps their initial wish was to vote for a woman (the emotional decision) and now they've decided to go the logical route?
Perhaps switching from Clinton to McCain proves exactly the opposite of what you suggest. :)
This may come as a shock, but there are millions of intelligent logical thinkers in this country who, on reviewing the respective positions, find that logic guides them to the Republican ones.
@ Spool32:
'When you party contains elements dedicated to victimhood as an identifying feature, and you pit two of those groups against each other for power in a party that has claimed to be sympathetic to, and the salvation of, both groups... you're going to end up with some victim-status self-identifiers who feel betrayed.'
[sarcasm] why, yes, the Republicans 'southern strategy' suddenly seems so innocent now... [/sarcasm]
The republicans' identity politics are still pretty sickening, I'll take the democrats over them every day.
@Spool: Obama and Hill seemed a hair's breath away from each other on most issues. So, if you chose Hillary because you aligned with her on the issues AND you saw it as a bonus that she was a woman, I can certainly see being disappointed that she didn't win the nomination, but I don't see wholesale defection to McCain if the issues were very important to you and there is another candidate who generally shares the same view as your first choice. For me, that's where it sounds like pouting and footstomping.
I guess I liken it to someone deciding to vote for Obama because they are mad that Romney or Huckabee isn't the candidate. Doesn't compute for me.
@Spool again: After reading your response to me again I see that what you said underscores my assertion that these are women using emotion to choose their candidate -- either initally as you suggested or now as I suggested -- and, as I said earlier, that perpetuates a stereotype.
Also, you seem to have made some assumptions about my politics, which is always a mistake.
@ AB:
By the way, posts like these are one of the main reasons I love reading your blog. Your train of thought is always written down here with care and empathy. You give us a thorough insight into the way you form your opinions unlike a lot of other bloggers whose sites I frequent who just use their blogs to spew their opinions, but nothing of the process that led to that opinion. Two thumbs up! :)
Nobody, and I mean nobody has slammed Hillary worst than faux news,and for a period of at least 8 years and still running. Jesus she acts like here maid was late coming to work today or something.
Jusus.
@wilma:
I'm no fan of GOP identity politics either... but I think perpetuating a culture of failure and victimhood is worse than inflaming bigotry.
They're both pretty damned lowdown, though.
Regardless of what the GOP does... I think I've got a pretty solid explanation for the Democrat troubles with this subset.
No, Barry doesn't owe That Woman an apology, and no, she didn't suffer any more for her gender than he did for his race.
The difference was that Barry never ran as The Black candidate, but Hillary embraced and exploited her role as The Woman candidate at every opportunity, as did her webpage and supporters. And because of Hillary's strategy to play an "us against them" game, there was the inevitable backlash.
As evidence, look at previous female candidates such as Liddy Dole or Carol Mosley Braun. They never embraced the mantra of being a niche candidate and didn't experience the backlash that Hillary endured.
By the same token, Revs. Sharpton and Jackson both marketed themselves as Black candidates, with primarily Black supporters, Black issues, and Black leadership.
This was not the road that Obama took. His focus, issues and braintrust are much broader than those of either Reverend and, consequently, so is Barry's base of support.
I wrote an op-ed why there were more missteps in HRC's campaign that had nothing do with the sexism that might have occured.
In the same token, as a woman, I can't deny that I winced on some pundits comments about her. Even downright to the newspapers comicstrips I looked forward to but had to put away.
One of the reasons, I had to roll my eyes with John McCain trying to court her former supporters. Seriously, the guy who answered GREAT QUESTION when a woman asked what to do with the "B****" is now talking about perceived sexism.
I don't have to be a supporter to notice what HRC went through; just a woman.
"Fox News desecrate the Black church and insult Black America repeatedly has been painful to me."
So if a black owned news outlet were to air the foolishness that goes on in the black church you wouldnt be offended right? Im glad it happened. Its time to stamp out yet another major source of ignorance in our community.
The feminists, like blacks are never going to be satisfied. They will always be offended and even if there is nothing to be offended about, then they will either make somehting up or, recall the good ol days of slavery for blacks or before the right of sufferage for women.
If you take a look @ history this is just a repeat really.
Susan B. Anthony opposed Frederick Douglas' stance on the 15th amendment, which "gave" voting rights to Black men and not women.
Somewhat like Obama and Hillary, their viewpoints were similar by diverged when it came to voting and, as a result, the power to elect whomever.
That was in 1869. It's almost 140 years later and various white women want their vote "counted" via Hillary and they're angry about it.
But notice I said white women. Most black women I know struggle with all kinds of crap that white women couldn't even fathom.
So no AB you don't anyone an apology.
No apology needed. Barack beat both Clintons, and think about that for a moment. Before Super Tuesday, he famously said that he doesn't know who he's running against, Bill or Hillary. To beat both the financial machine AND two deft campaigners should not be considered a "close contest." Obama won by a landslide. The fact that Hillary supporters drank the kool-aid of unfair caucuses, popular vote, etc. speaks to their irrational support for a woman who never truly earned her place in American politics, but happened to marry the vehicle to her Presidency.
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