Actually this issue isn't that new and has come up a few times including the early debates where some women Clinton supporters thought that questions and attitudes towards Clinton were sexist and amounted to a "boys club" ganging up on the girl. At the time I looked at it as going after the front runner but in hindsight there might've been something there. I'm more curious about this as I myself have called her a "cast iron b****" and I was a supporter, about how much sexism there was and perceived sexism on the part of female supporters. To me it seems that Hillary Clinton has suffered the same sort of perception that Margaret Thatcher did as being a cold and somewhat nasty politician but if she wasn't like that I'm wondering if she wouldn't be taken seriously. For female politicians there often is the problem that they have to project a tough image to overcome an innate perception of woman as being weak. Looking back over the primaries many of Clinton's actions and statements (and mistatements) have seemed to play to that image, dodging sniper fire and even slamming shots. At the same time whenever she has shown weakness critics have often pounced that that means either she is one weak or that she is cynically manipulating the electorate. So the extent of sexism might not be something overt but a catch 22 where she has to appear tough but that means that she's also considered cold and ruthless. I still hope some female posters though will pitch in with their thoughts.
To me it's more about respect. If there is a character basis for respect it diminishes the sexist or gender factors. I think with high character, dignity and intelligence women politicians do not face sexism in most the electorate, actually I think with the right character they earn added respect... for example Shirley Temple Black was very much a woman of grace and dignity and was never termed 'weak' as US ambassador to Ghana or Czechoslovakia. I think she also served in the UN. Hillary doesn't ever look genuinely happy and I think her marriage to Bill hurt her credibility because IMO her tolerant compassion for his unfaithfulness came more across as political ambition- paying the price to keep a shot at the White House. I just don't ever listen to her without feeling like she cares more about winning the White House than anything else; her character projects as very self serving, even for the good she has done. I think unfortunately for her, her platform got lost in her personality. My own perceptions are that she is the ultimate power hungry elite politician. (she may be a gentile lady in her heart of hearts but for me it doesn't project)
serious question, did you think people were sexist towards madeline albright, sandra day o'connor, even condolezza rice?
not so sure about sexism but the primaries sure were sexy. i've got this weird thing for chelsea----->nice backdoor
i think sexism was more prevalent than racism. i know for damn sure i wasnt going to let a woman be our president.
I don't think she had to overcome any more sexism than Obama did racism. As I remember some exit polls, of the people that said race was important, Clinton lead pretty handily. Even those who said sex was important favored Clinton. Those were from Ohio/TX though. I'd like to see the rest of the polls to see what the trend was. I do not remember hearing/reading one thing I thought overtly sexist from anyone in the Obama camp or the media in general. The one comment from Michelle Obama about not keeping her house in order or something, I can see how that could be construed as sexist, but its a stretch. I'd also like to agree wholeheartedly with rhester's post above. And also add that I have a crush on Major and Sishir.
From what I recall though Shirley Temple Black didn't serve in elected office particularly in an office where she also commanded the military. It does seem like many women who have also had to serve a Commander and Chief role have had to portray a certain amount of toughness or even ruthless such as Thatcher and Benazir Bhutto. On the flip side though if she had acted like the woman scorned or had a public breakdown over Bill Clinton's indescretions would people have taken her seriously as a politician in her own right? I have the feeling that people would've then said things like, "She's too bitter or too much of a drama queen to be President." As far as her appearing to be power hungry and ambitious though wouldn't that apply to anyone who runs for President? Should McCain be criticized for being power hungry since he's run for President twice? Should Obama be criticized for being an opportunist for running President at the peak of his popularity rather than waiting to become more experienced in national politics? It does seem like an odd situation that Hillary Clinton is criticized for sticking with her husband as an act of political ambition whereas many other politicians have figuratively gotten in bed with all sorts of people and interest groups to get where they are.
Now that I think about it I think there was a certain amount of sexism towards them also. Madeline Albright seemed to have to deal with the same situation of having to appear tough and also being considered shrill and cold. Condolezza Rice has certainly had a share of sexist comments regarding speculation that she has some sort of romantic relationship with GW Bush thrown about that has impaired her better judgement. I'm not so sure about Sandra Day O'Connor. As I admitted earlier being a man I don't think I'm as sensitive to sexism but the more I think about I can see that there may be evidence of a certain amount of it in politics.
Oh you tease.. Now I'm going to have to throw in some sexist stereotype regarding you using your feminine whiles to manipulate the men of the D & D.
I think die-hard hillary supporters are bitter that a black man beat out their candidate and robbed them of history. So their defense mechanism is to scream sexism (even though racism was clearly a bigger factor in helping Clinton).
A woman is biologically different than a man. Created different, born different, and behave different. Thank God for that. I think the modern world has taken it too far and now we are beginning to confuse the concept of equality - it doesn't mean the two sexes have to be the same, it just means they have to be TREATED the same. The point is not for women to be treated like men or men to be treated like women - it's for both to be treated a humans with equal rights. This is why sexism may be more prevalent than racism in this campaign (just my opinion). That doesn't mean Obama didn't deserve his win, it just means the numbers may not be indicative enough of the merits of each candidate. So with that in mind, I think it's important to define the word "sexist" specifically for the purpose of this discussion. Did people feel that a woman would run a country differently than a man? Did people feel that a black person would run a country different than a white person? The answer to both those questions is "maybe" but, as mentioned, it would be completely independent of their sex or race. It would be more attributable to their distinct qualities as PEOPLE.
I know Shirley Black wasn't elected, but I am saying she was respected in her position in politics/government as a woman. She could have run and probably won. I believe in todays political environment it is far more important that a woman come across as intelligent, secure and knowledgable; yes, those requirements may be tainted with sexism since men are less accountable in these same areas; but still I don't think Hillary was hindered on the democratic voting base because she was a woman. Let me ask you, do you really think you are that different than most registered democrats in making gender an issue? Sure, there are many out there who are sexist and just don't want a woman president. But Hillary's biggest problems stem from perceptions- Democrats obviously bought into Obama's change message and didn't latch on to Hillary's change message. Everyone wants changes on the democratic side but which candidate sold it? As far as how she responded to Bill: I think if she had shown her feminine side sought out counseling for them; things that would have built their marriage. Moved towards healing there relationship rather than moving away from him right after his term ended- I think those things would have garnered respect and admiration from the populace. Instead of running for the Senate right away; I think she could have tried the Reagan route- a weekly radio/TV show that gave her a public platform to sell herself and her message; then with some political position or office to boost her experience factor she could have had the democratic party unified behind her and carrying her to the nomination.- just a thought
I'm not going to discount that much of this is sour grapes but the more I think about it the more I think there might've been an issue out there. As a male and a minority I think I can see racism out there and have thought that there were many racially charged issues that came out in this campaign. What I'm more wondering about is was there also a subtext of sexism that many of us might not be as aware of.
That is what I'm getting at is are women held accountable to somewhat different standards in politics and did that have an impact on Hillary Clinton's campaign and the perception of her? There's been a lot of debate regarding the perception of Barack Obama as a black man and whether that helped him or hurt him especially the discussion of him as an articulate black man. Those discussions addressed a question of whether his race and him countering stereotypes of that race mattered to the election. There seems to have been far less of a discussion though of whether how Hillary Clinton being a woman and the perception of her as being tough, shrill and ruthless might've been affected by underlying attitudes regarding gender. I never really considered gender an issue much at all but consider if a male supporter like myself considered her a "cast iron b****" how does that play into the perception of gender roles? I honestly don't know how much gender played a role and I don't know if much of the griping by female Clinton supporters is sour grapes but I think it is an interesting issue. Obama won the election but Clinton did better than any losing candidate ever has done so gender probably didn't hamper her. At the same time though there has been a lot of talk that much of Clinton's support was racially motivated. Was it possible that some part of Obama's support was gender motivated. I will go further to say that it wasn't just gender motivated as not wanting a woman under any circumstances but the particular perception of Hillary Clinton as being shrill, something that might've not been an issue if she were male. On the flip side though I can see her taking a softer approach as playing into a perception of her as being weak and unable to stand up on her own as political leader. This might've played against a role that she has crafted all her life as both being a wife and mother while also being strong and independent. Consider that during the primaries she has alternately been criticized for relying too much on Bill but also for being too aloof.