Feministe has a great post up about why it's important to call out anti-Clinton misogyny, regardless of whom you support. An excerpt:
I’m focusing on the misogynistic stuff thrown at Clinton because this, as you may recall, is a feminist blog. And while there are hundreds if not thousands of other blogs as well as entire networks and mainstream media outlets rushing to the defense of Obama (thus rendering anything I have to say pretty well redundant), there are few outlets calling out misogynistic attacks on Clinton and/or on her supporters. And it matters that somebody’s calling it out. It’s got nothing to do with who’s the better candidate, who should win, the “delegate math,” or what have you. Vote for whomever you feel like voting for; I’ve been on record from the beginning of the primary that feminists don’t have to vote for Clinton to be feminists, since feminists get to make up their minds the same as anyone else does.
Read it. At least read some of it. It's really important, and tackles several issues, especially that of how such misogyny affects women in general.
Now it's personal experience time! I have a friend who is totally smart and not an asshole provided he's sober, but apparently decides to change things up when he's drunk and/or high. (What I'm about to describe is the only first-hand experience I have of this, so I'm not trying to comment on his character.) Basically the argument was over whether it's okay to call Clinton a bitch. He was high and not responding to anything I said so I eventually just left, but I will give you lucky readers the answer to this question:
No, it is not okay. Asshole.
It doesn't matter what you think of her. It doesn't matter if she is a bitch*. You don't say that about women in politics, you don't say that about women in power, you preferably don't say that about women, period. I came up with a great linguistic example (by which no one seems impressed except me, but I am way impressed so whatever): the word "niggard." Etymologically, it has nothing to do with the infamous N-word, but it unfailingly brings that word to mind so you really just shouldn't use it in public, not because of its meaning but because of its connotations.
Maybe this example doesn't impress my friends because it's really a debate tactic aimed at people who don't know they're being sexist. Because "bitch" is misogynist in both origin and typical usage, whereas "niggard" is racist in neither. Perhaps a better example is that you shouldn't call women "hysterical" because of the sexist origins of the term**, but to care you'd pretty much have to not be a misogynist in the first place. This friend was actually insisting that bitch is not a sexist word, ever. But like I said, he was high--when sober, he probably remembers that the word literally means "female dog." He also argued that he sometimes calls men bitches--I tried pointing out that people call men bitches for different sets of behavior than for women, and the thrust of the insult is that you're saying that the man is a woman. Which is, as we all know, A TERRIBLE THING TO BE.
Not that you have to like Clinton. This friend of mine's stance is still "Anyone but McCain!" whereas this other dude in the conversation took the horrifying stance "If Clinton wins I'll vote McCain." There are only two reasons to support McCain: 1) you hate women, and 2) you're a Republican, which means you hate women anyway so there you have it. There's also the possible 3rd reason that you're an independent and don't actually know anything ABOUT McCain, but if you're any sort of Democrat and prefer him to Clinton, I have this to say: dude, I'm sorry you hate your mommy and everything, but do you have to take it out on the rest of us? Do you really hate vaginas so much that you want to force mine to give birth regardless of my wishes? Douche.***
And that's The Word.
*And btdubs, I have never been given any evidence that she is a bitch. A politician? Yes. A bitch? Fuck you.
**From the Greek for "wandering uterus," a condition that was ascribed to women in explanation of "madness." In the 19th century it was used as a catch-all diagnosis for any issue a woman was having, and was sometimes treated with clitoral stimulation, which would result in a "hysterical paroxysm," something we're all fond of. (Vibrators eventually came into use because doctors' hands got tired. No joke.) Freud led the transition from hysteria to neurosis, which was a non-gendered term he used to discuss male and female patients alike, and now the term is not recognized by the psychological community, as it is not only sexist but vague and not particularly helpful diagnostically.
***A douche is, of course, a gendered product, but it's a bad one, so the insult is valid.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Fuck The Clever Post Titles: Just Don't Call Clinton A Bitch, Okay? Awesome. Glad We Had This Talk
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Some People Are Like This, and Other People Are Like This!
Jezebel linked to a stupid article in the London Times about how US women are well-groomed and British women are busted. He describes things like waxing, tanning, and teeth whitening as "obligatory beauty maintenance," and essentially says that we're superficial bitches who tell our friends they're fat--yknow, in a good way! Blah blah etc, he is stupid and sexist and basing his concept of America strictly on L.A. This we know. I didn't even read the whole article because who gives a fuck.
However, I thought I'd share with you my OWN sweeping cultural generalizations. Having lived the better part of a year in London,* I determined that Londoners (at least) have a healthier attitude towards sexuality, in particular female sexuality. Furthermore, the guys have less stringent beauty standards. Now, it's been suggested to me that "Susan B.'s London is not everybody's London," but you're just as likely to spot a couple where the guy's more attractive as the other way around**. The women in their sitcoms are hot, but look like actual people. Bah, I saw the first episode of the pitiful American version of Coupling, which I'm told was almost word-for-word the same as the first episode of the awesome British original, and the guy who was supposed to be kind of dopey and not great with women was of course played by a chubby balding guy, even though the plot concerns him and a super-hot woman. In the British version, that character isn't much more or less attractive than his buddies-- they show his dorkiness, and this will shock you, through the WRITING AND ACTING.
Also, you can buy vibrators in Luten airport.
The author of the lame article talks about liking British girls, going to college in LA, then coming back and wondering what happened to the pretty. My guess? The girls didn't change, he just developed a taste for silicone and fake tans. As for me, at least once a week it occurs to me that if I actually wanted to be, yknow HAPPY in this life, I would move to London and marry some nice indie rocker who likes to dance***.
*OMG almost a year! I'm like a native, and totes qualified to comment on the culture! For reals.
**[Insert boasts about my pulling guys way hotter than me.]
***And start a meaningful theatre career, since theatre there actually matters, but that's a tangent.
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