By Tim Wise.
Hillary Clinton is finished, and contrary to the insistence of many
of her supporters, sexism has had virtually nothing to do with it.
Gloria Steinem was wrong in her now infamous New York Times op-ed a
few months back. Clinton's problem was not that she was a woman and
that 'women are never front-runners' (indeed, just a few weeks prior
to Steinem writing those words, Hillary had been just that, not that
facts matter, I guess). Her problem was that she exuded, as did her
husband even more than she, a sense of entitlement, a sense of being
owed the Presidency, a sense that--as I've heard so many white women
say these past few months--'it's our turn,' as if philogynous voting
behavior were the moral duty of women everywhere.
Please understand, when I say that sexism has had nothing to do with
Clinton's electoral demise, I don't mean to suggest that there were
no men out there who voted against her because of sexist, even
misogynist views. I have no doubt there were. And it is certainly
true that Clinton faced repeated denigration by male media pundits
who played upon gender stereotypes and sexist imagery in their
criticisms of her. All of that happened, to be sure, and it is
indefensible (Interestingly, the worst example of misogyny probably
came from Clinton supporter James Carville who suggested that Hillary
has more balls than Obama, and ya' know, balls are just what the
world needs more of).
<http://www.counterpunch.org/wise05172008.html>Link
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Posted By johannes to
<http://www.monochrom.at/english/2008/05/hillary-testosterone-is-not-to-blame.htm>monochrom
at 5/19/2008 12:04:00 PM
