Saturday, February 9, 2008

keep it up guys, sexism just makes us stronger



Sexist coverage of Hillary brings women to her corner













"Take a look at the pictures news outlets run (above). Typically, Hillary looks like a crazy person, her mouth agape, her eyes as bug-eyed as the runaway bride’s. Meanwhile, Barack Obama typically looks cool, calm, collected - or, better yet, pensive and reflective.

"Then there’s comparisons between Hillary and the “nagging housewife” or "everybody’s first wife.” There are the constant adjectives: angry, shrill, divisive, polarizing. They’re really just “code words for bitch,” said Hillary supporter Andrea Cabral, the sheriff of Suffolk County.

"It’s analogous to the reaction among blacks when Bill Clinton was running around South Carolina making racist remarks. Thousands reacted by voting for Obama. Women’s reaction to sexist slurs is just as visceral. And they’re voting in record numbers for Hillary.

"Meanwhile, the unspoken rules say you can still publicly trash women in a way you can’t publicly trash African-Americans. “Imagine if somebody said Barack Obama was pimping out his wife,” says Andrea Cabral. “What would never be said about race is the sport of kings when it comes to gender.”


link

No comments: