On Bill Moyer’s program on December 7th,** Kathleen Hall Jamieson gave a damning portrait of much in US public discourse about Clinton’s candidacy for the democratic nomination. Both the content and the causes of the attacks on HC should not surprise readers of this blog, or feminists more generally.
The content:
- She is reduced to her sex.
- She is portrayed as castrating, emasculating men.
(And, of course, sleazy, slimy, deceitful, harmful, hateful, etc.)
The cause:
- Women in power are seen as “unnatural” and must really be men.
- Women pay heavy penalties for appearing as powerful in public.
One particularly nice observation concerned the queston asked of McCann, “How can we stop the bitch?” As Jamieson noted, “kite” and “n****r” provide interesting comparisons, presumably because their use would have been roundly condemned.
**Available as podcast through the linked-to site.
Female Science Professor has a good post on calling a woman “aggressive.” See the comments also, at:
http://science-professor.blogspot.com/
It will be interesting to see them squirm and rant for a full term after she wins. Hopefully they will look truly pathetic.
CNZ, Thanks for a nice and cheery thought, though I deeply fear they’ll keep the garbage flying and the political discourse in the US will become even more divisive. I’m thinking here of the horrible stuff going on in Bill’s first term.
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