My new friend Bethany, an Obama supporter and now commenter on my blog, brought up the point that Hillary was also mocked as a woman vying for power in politics. The below is my response to her. I realized I rambled on too long to bury this response in the comments section:
Yes, I agree that sexism is rampant.
But the disparity is staggering…Hillary got dished on, but not to the extent that Palin is getting.
It’s been barely two weeks, and already they have Palin dolls in sexualized schoolgirl outfits?
And this from Salon: http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2008/09/09/mistress_palin/
The MSM (main stream media) is tipping their hand…Letting the broader public see the
usual chatter that is reserved for in-crowd-behind-the-palm-snide-snickers to be shared when the mikes are off.
[let’s pause and let this travesty sink in for a moment…Palin, her political power entirely sexualized. Can you imagine if this were a column sexualizing Obama, for example? The racist stink off such a column would befoul the area for at least a 100-mile radius. But who is taking Greg Kamiya aside to explain that he is an emabarassment to the freedom of the press?]
This post from Lileks is what I mean: http://lileks.com/bleats/archive/08/0908/091008.html
He is usually a mild-mannered homebody with a love of retro music and city history. But Mallik’s column was just too much for him.
I am not saying that every democrat is as bad as Mallik and Kamiya. But, to paraphrase Jesus, a little
leaven goes a long way. And these outrageous accusations toward Palin (not even fact-based…’Dominatrix’?!) are piling up really high.
So…I don’t ask that everyone I meet agree with me.
But maybe I should amend my guidelines for “How to have an open-minded discussion” …#9 in
particular…to include “Snobbery” along with sexism, racism and violence as a stopping
point where someone is morally obliged to speak out.
At what point do compassionate democrats start to feel guilty by association?
Oh, one more thing. This is hardly a new train of thought for me. Check this post from
three years ago:
http://writtenbymurphy.com/wonderblog/?p=626
i think my point was missed. it isn’t necessarily about republican or democrat, liberal or conservative. both sides make god awful jokes/accusations/comments… but when a woman is the target all the patriarchal/sexist bullshit comes out. I’d have to disagree with your accusation that its worse with palin, its just WAY more obvious and offensive because people think she’s hot. Hillary sexism was more subtle but equally offensive.
i was just suggesting perhaps the only way to successfully combat this would be for women of all sides to work together. I can assure you that many angry emails were sent to the makers of the Palin doll from the lovely ladies of feministing (and others i’m sure).
it seems to me that you are also upset because people are (wrongly so) getting caught up with her seemingly rural location and non-urban lifestlye – and since you identify with that its a blow to yourself as well? I’ll admit that i don’t follow most mainstream media and therefore am not at all acquainted it. I for one think its just a lifestyle choice and therefore totally not important and it really bothers me that this is even part of the political conversation. My only issues with Palin are in regard to her policy choices.
And we unfortunately are all guilty by association, whether it be Salon or Bill O’Reilly.
http://www.feministing.com/archives/010907.html#comments – since we are adding more links… i hate this guy. And while feminist lefties don’t support Palin as a politician, we definitely support her as a woman.
one last thing – regarding this link http://lileks.com/bleats/archive/08/0908/091008.html “Bottom line: she’s not a woman woman. The fact that she gave birth to a Down Syndrome baby – icky icky, imagine the playdate scheduling hell – is evidence enough” – omg no one thinks there is anything wrong with her having a Downs baby! It really bothers me that people think that this is a reason why women won’t vote for her. Now you could say that she’s not a “woman’s woman” because she doesn’t even support abortion in the case of rape or incest… and that would be true. Downs kids are awesome – it was her Choice to have it and kudos to her!
No and yes. I do believe that McCain shuold have chosen Romney because Romney is an expert on economics. I do not believe Obama made a bad choice with Biden because of his foreign police expertise. The one thing that Obama has over McCain when it comes to the economy is judgment. McCain has admitted to needing educated on economics, and he has also not shown much judgment during his campaign. Obama will see to it that he has the best economists coming up with the best plans for our country. He is not stubborn like Bush, and he will listen to what others have to say. You shuold read Obamanomics. In this book you will get a better idea of Obama’s economic plan. His bottom-up approach is a better economic plan when compared to our current trickle down economy. One last point on McCain. Seven of his top advisers are lobbyists, and he has 159 lobbyists working on his campaign. It would be a hard sell to the American public that McCain truly has our best interests at heart when he has so many lobbyists telling him what to do.