Sexism and Politics

I've been toying with the idea of writing on this topic since the campaign between Hilary Clinton and Barrack Obama really started heating up, but I never really got around to it. Now that the campaign is over, I think it's a good time to really reflect about the overarching sexism that was clearly utilized by the Obama campaign in the primary. While many people have written about this issue, unfortunately the majority of them fail to recognize how subtly and acceptable sexism is in our society, as opposed to the other “isms”, particularly racism.

While the whole campaign was replete with sexist overtones, I'll just give you a few examples. My favorite is Obama’s response to Hilary’s charge that he diluted a nuclear energy bill. Instead of addressing the issue he simply says “I understand that Senator Clinton … when she's feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal.” Feeling down?! You meant to say when she is on the rag right Senator?

The most commonly cited one, however, is Obama’s casual statement that when "you challenge the status quo … the claws come out". Most of us hear that and cringe not at the statement, but at the idea that someone would take offense to it. This is completely ridiculous. Obama would never have used that language talking about John McCain, not in a million years.

To really illustrate the paradox of sex vs. race issues I think we should imagine Hilary Clinton making a similar statement regarding Barrack Obama's race. Imagine the outcry if she had said "you challenge the status quo and someone busts a cap on yo ass"...

It's so obvious that if a statement like that were made, the race police would have been foaming at the mouth with rage and indignation. But there was never anything near to that when Obama made an obviously synonymous statement. The few women who called it what it was were pilloried as old hags who should leave the work of politics to the big boys, or at least to the women who understood their place in society.

The number of indirect swipes at Senator Clinton were replete throughout the campaign. Countless “hollering”, “petty” Etc were thrown around by Obama this campaign season and it really is sad at how sensitive our society is to racial issues, and yet so dismissive of sexist ones.

Many brave women struggled hard to achieve equal rights for well over a century in the US, but it's clear that the struggle for gender equality will be much more of a harder fight to win than that for racial equality. Did Barrack Obama win the primary because of sexist Democrat voters? Doubtful. But did Barrack Obama take advantage of a society that deems it acceptable to downplay powerful women as vindictive she devils who are one menstrual cycle away from a full meltdown. Absolutely.