News + Commentary: A Select Archive of Smart Pundits

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Women, Gender, Sexism, & Hillary Clinton

The Best Revenge: Get Even

Ellen Goodman, Boston Globe, 6/13/08 | "Every Clinton supporter I talk to heatedly brings up the media. …It wasn’t just the ugly stuff coming out from under the rocks - ‘Life’s a B --, Don’t Elect One.’ Nor was it just the sleazy shout-outs of the new boys’ blogosphere. What shocked even the slur-hardened feminists was that, as Ellen Malcolm of Emily’s List said, ‘it seemed to be so acceptable. And it was shameful.’ Where was the DNC’s voice of protest?"

They Get It>
Highly Recommended Reads

Clinton Won’t Be Sexists’ Last Target
Connie Schultz, Newhouse News, 5/23 | "We have only begun to feel the damage [to young women] of the punch-and-pummel pundits."

Sexism Stoked by the Media
Michal Regunberg, Boston Globe, 5/14/08 | "In a column in The NY Times [Gloria Steinem] wrote, ‘Gender is probably the most restricting force in American life ’’ Steinem looks downright prescient. …[T]he ‘boys on the bus’ (and a good number of women) have had a tough time with Clinton ’What’s worse, they get away with it …they use her as a punchline." | Read Steinem’s"Women Are Never Front Runners"

Hey Obama Boys, Back Off Already
Rebecca Traister, Salon, 4/14/08 | "Young women are growing increasingly frustrated with the fanatical support of Barack and gleeful bashing of Hillary."

The Feminist Reawakening: Hillary Clinton & the Fourth Wave
Amanda Fortini, NY mag., 4/13/08 | "Then Hillary Clinton declared her candidacy, and the sexism in America …yawned and revealed itself. Even those of us who didn’t usually concern ourselves with gender-centric matters began to realize that when it comes to women, we are not post-anything."

Media Charged With Sexism in Clinton Coverage

Katharine Q. Seeye & Julie Bosman, New York Times, 6/13/08 | "Many in the news media — with a few exceptions, including Katie Couric of CBS — see little need for reconsidering their coverage or changing their approach going forward. …For many of Mrs. Clinton’s supporters, the anger over her treatment has not subsided." | See video of Katie Couric’s "special comment" on Clinton & Sexism

Media Finds Itself (Mainly) Innocent of the Charge of Sexism Against Hillary

Damozel, Moderate Voice, 6/13/08 | "The blatant sexism of the media campaign against Hillary Clinton didn’t bother the people who were doing it or the people who benefited from it, but it bothered the hell out of a lot of women, including me."

Clinton’s Remarkable Run

David Broder, Washington Post, 6/12/08 | "[E]ven as [women] rallied behind her, she steadfastly refused to cast her candidacy in gender terms. …Which made it all the more striking that last week …she defined her campaign…in distinctly feminist terms. …‘It’s always who Hillary has been,’ [a Clinton aide] said, ‘but it became more important to acknowledge it explicitly, as she saw the reaction of her women supporters to the level of sexism and hostility in the standard media."

Obama and the Democrats Owe Clinton and Her Supporters a Formal Apology for the Campaign’s Sexism

Bonnie Erbe, US News & World Report, 6/9/08 | "Nothing short of a lengthy, detailed mea culpa by the DNC and by Obama himself, directed to Clinton supporters for the sexist name-calling and personal, nasty characterizations Clinton was alone forced to endure, will do. Even that may not persuade these voters to consider supporting the party this fall."

Sex Does Matter

Barkha Dutt, Khaleej Times, 6/10/08 | "You may hate her or love her, but there’s no doubt that the Clinton campaign has been at the receiving end of some pretty gross misogyny. Hillary Clinton didn’t lose because she was a woman. She lost because she allowed her gender to script roles that had her vacillate between playing aggressor and victim."

Clinton’s Run, My Seminar on Sexism

Sarah Odell, Washington Post, 6/8/08 | "Gender didn’t hinder women, so I didn’t need to be a feminist. Except, maybe I did."

Angry White Female

Froma Harrop, National Ledger, 6/3/08 | "[W]omen talk of being taken for granted by a party leadership that never spoke out on some of the outrageous Hillary bashing -- and despite the close race, [rushed] to crown Obama."

‘Look What They’ve Done to Her’

E.J. Dionne, Washington Post, 5/30/08 | "How much anger is there among women about how Hillary Clinton has been treated? Some of the nation’s leading female politicians will tell you: quite a lot."

The Hillary Mystique: Discussing the Clinton campaign, sexism, and feminism

Michelle Cottle & Amanda Fortini, New Republic, 5/28/08 | "‘People say the enmity is not anti-women, it’s anti-Clinton. But male candidates don’t have people putting pictures of them on a urinal."

Bitter Race Tranishes Democrats' Mosaic

Ellen Goodman, Boston Globe, 5/23/08 | "A historic campaign has opened fissures along historic fault lines. The deepest is between women and our culture."

The NARAL Betrayal

Massive Blowback To NARAL’s Obama Endorsement
Huffington Post, 5/15

NARAL Sticks a Finger
in Our Eye Huffington Post, 5/14

NARAL Reeling from Obama Endorsement
Politico, 5/16

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‘sweetie-gate’
Obama to Reporter:
"Hold on a sec, sweetie ’"
Sen. Obama in Mich.
View video here

Related Read:
Obama Gets
‘Very Flirtatious’ At Campaign Stop
Huffington Post

Could NARAL Endorsement Hurt Obama?

John Fout, The Street, 5/23/08 | "[W]omen perceive that the glass ceiling remains firmly in place in both business and politics."

Race Trumped Gender; Now Obama Must Mend Broken Hearts

Jonathan Tilove, Newhouse News Service, 5/23/08 | "[As one Clinton backer said,] Obama would continue to remind her ‘of every junior executive I had to train to fill a job that a qualified woman didn’t get.’"

Gender Issue Lives On As Clinton's Bid Wanes

Jodi Kantor, NY Times, 5/19/08 | "Along with the usual post-mortems about strategy, message and money [is] a reckoning about what her run represents for women."

The Sisters Are Steamed

Howard Kurtz, Washington Post, 5/21/08 | "Numerous women - journalists and those interviewed by journalists - believe Clinton has gotten a raw deal, especially from the media."

For Some Clinton Supporters, Sexism is the Explanation

Russell Goldman, ABC News, 5/20/08 | "In unusually blunt comments, Clinton [said] that sexism has played a larger role in the campaign than racism and that it has cost her and her supporters."

Healing the Wounds of Democrats’ Sexism

Geraldine A. Ferraro, Boston Globe, 5/30/08 | "[T]he effects of racism and sexism on the campaign have resulted in a split within the Democratic Party that will not be easy to heal before election day."

Clinton Confronts Sexism On the Trail and Vows to Battle On

Lois Romano, Wash. Post, 5/19/08 | [T]here should be equal rejection of sexism and racism when it raises its ugly head," [Clinton] said. "It does seem as though the press is not as bothered by the incredible vitriol [of misogyny]."

Year of the Sweetie?

Susan Estrich, FoxNews, 5/18/08 | "[I]f women were the ones doing the picking, Hillary would be the nominee. …It is also absolutely clear that Obama can’t win without them, and that ‘sweetie’ is not an accurate description of their connection to him right now." | Related: Obama’s ‘sweetie moment’

She Just Might Be President Someday

Kate Zernike, NY Times, 5/18/08 | "[T]here is no Hillary waiting in the wings. Except, of course, Hillary."

Devil in a Pantsuit or the Demonization of Hillary Clinton

Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune, 5/18/08 | "The media portrayal of Clinton evokes [a] vicious cultural stereotype: Female monster."

Painful Lessons: Primary Reveals Obstacles Facing Women in Politics

Lynette Long, Baltimore Sun, 5/18/08 | "The lessons have mainly been bitter ones for women."

Electing Sweetie

Erica Jong, Huffington Post, 5/16/08 | "So here we go again. NARAL loves the new boy on the block -- even if HRC was there at its founding. So does John Edwards. And Ted Kennedy. The fact that Barack has little experience makes him the hot new ingenue, whereas Hillary is old like your mother."

Feminist Trailblazer Hillary Rodham Clinton: Women Are the Core of the Democratic Party

Tennessee Guerilla Women, 5/8/08 | "In her historic campaign, Hillary …has taken a lifetime of venomous misogyny and she has taken it for all of us. ’ If she wins, we win. …Meanwhile …the Obama News Network is again awash with calls for Hillary to drop out …"

Quitters Never Win

Ellen R. Malcolm, Washington Post, 5/9/08 | "So here we are in the fourth quarter of the nominating process and the game is too close to call. …The first woman ever to win a presidential primary is supposed to stop competing …and exit stage right. ’"

The Fight Stuff

Susan Faludi, New York Times, 5/9/08 | "Pundits have been quick to attribute the erosion in Obama’s white male support to a newfound racism. What they have failed to consider is the degree to which white male voters …are being forced to rethink precepts they’ve long held about women in American politics."

In West Virginia, Clinton’s Disciples Persevere

Eli Saslow, Washington Post, 5/11/08 | "‘The more I’m involved, the angrier I get,’ [said one volunteer who took time off work to travel to WV for Clinton]. ‘Every call for her to get out of the race just incenses me. ’’"

Spousal Exceptions: How Has the Role Changed in this Year’s Presidential Campaign?

Christine Stansell, Dissent, Spring 2008 | "[T]he discomfort with the [Clinton] marriage, which for years collected around Hillary, is now raining down on the ex-president. …The journalists who are trudging after him …entertain themselves by taking turns dredging up spurious racism charges and seeing if he will take the bait."

Campaign Reflects Long Divide Over Rights Right: Clinton-Obama Decision has Roots in Abolitionism

Amy S. Rosenberg, Philadelphia Inquirer Mag., 3/6/08 | "‘[P]eople say, "I’m an African American, I want my son to see an African American president,’ [said PA State Sen. Connie Williams]. ‘Well, I’m a woman. And I want my daughter to see a woman president’ …"

Women are Never Front-Runners

Gloria Steinem, NY Times, 2/08 | "What worries me is that he is seen as unifying by his race while she is seen as divisive by her sex. What worries me is that she is accused of ’playing the gender card …when citing the old boys’ club, while he is seen as unifying by citing civil rights confrontations."

On Sexist Media Coverage of Hillary Clinton

Jessica Wakeman, Huffington Post, 4/28/08 | "Clinton’s run for the Democratic nomination has been awash with the most dispiriting ridicule I have seen in my (albeit short) lifetime."

The Free-Pass Sexism of the Hillary Hate Brigade

DeeDee Myers, Vanity Fair Daily | "[W]hat keeps me awake at night is the fact that in 2008, the press, the pundits, and her political opponents can still say almost anything about Hillary Clinton without penalty."

Yo Mamma: Hillary Clinton as the Battleground in the War Between Mothers and Daughters

Linda Hirshman, Slate magazine, 4/18/08 | "Not until the Hillary-bashing liberal male establishment went so over the top with their attacks that it could not be ignored did the feminist oldsters start to seem sensible."

Still No Satisfaction for Clinton’s Sisterhood

Joan Vennochi, Boston Globe., 4/17/08 | "Gov. Patrick and Sens. Kerry and Kennedy met with Mass. women who support Clinton and want superdelegates to count all the primary votes in FL and MI …The men - all Obama supporters in a state that went for Clinton - said they believe in fairness, but not, necessarily, in counting votes in other states where Clinton claims victory."

Campaign Sexism Angers Women

Fran Wood, NJ Star Ledger, 4/20/08 | "‘Hillary has brought out a level of sexism I haven’t seen since the ’70s,’ [said NOW president Kim Gandy]."

Young Feminists Split: Does Gender Matter?

Eli Saslow, Washington Post, 1/8/08 | "Election debates take on a particular fervor here on the [Wellesley College] campus where Clinton lived from 1965 to 1969."

Ignorance and Venom: The Media’s Deeply Ingrained Sexism

Kim Gandy, NOW president, 2/14/08 | "Whether consciously or not, too many reporters, commentators, [and] pundits appear unable to critique Clinton without dusting off their favorite sexist clicés, stereotypes and insults."

Cutting Women Out: The Media Bias Against Female Candidates

Erika Falk, In These Times | "The mainstream media treats female presidential candidates as novelties instead of serious contenders -- just like they did 100 years ago."

Feminists in Defense of Hillary

Carly Hope Finseth | "What is up with all of this hate?!?! …Maureen Dowd …clearly can’t just stop at simply stating her opinions …she must completely degrade and insult Hillary in the process."

To Women, So Much More Than a Candidate

Eli Saslow, Washington Post | "The Internet is overloaded with message boards full of male chauvinists who believe that Clinton is a candidate only because of her husband, and with Web sites that market a product called the Hillary Nutcracker ’"

Hillary Sexism Watch: Letter to MSNBC

NOW, NWPC,WUFPAC release | "Please explain to the viewers of MSNBC’s Tim Russert’s latest show how using the term ‘bitchy’ to refer to a woman running for president is an example of ‘writing and thinking and talking with intelligence.’"

Media Boost Obama, Bash "Billary"

Center for Media & Public Affairs, 2/1/08 | "Since …the Iowa caucuses, Sen. Barack Obama has led the race for good press and Sen. Hillary Clinton has lagged the farthest behind."

Goodbye to All That No. 2

Robin Morgan, Women’s Media Center | "Goodbye to the toxic viciousness …the new Hillary-hating 527 group, Citizens United Not Timid (check the capital letters). John McCain answering ‘How do we beat the bitch?’ with ‘Excellent question!’ …Goodbye to the HRC nutcracker with metal spikes between splayed thighs. ’ Goodbye to the most intimately violent T-shirts in election history, including one with the murderous slogan ‘If Only Hillary had married O.J. Instead!’ …Where is our sense of outrage—as citizens, voters, Americans?" | Listen to Robin Morgan discuss this essay in an NPR interview 2/8/08

Sexist Language in Media Coverage of Hillary Clinton

Ashley Crowther, MediaCrit, 12/07 [by Prof. Mark Dery’s students in the NYU journalism dept.]) | "In Postfeminist News, Mary Douglas Vavrus comments that ‘’ Clinton seems to inspire a mixture of respect and disdain from [the] media …[and] references that reveal their creators’ perspectives on women, power, and public life’ ’ "

Racism & Sexism in Liberal America

Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders for Hillary, 3/4/08 | "Yes, men have it much tougher in America than white women. But in this Democratic primary, sexism is hurting Hillary far more than racism is hurting Barack."

Still Stuck in Second

Anna Quindlen, Newsweek | "The double standard is alive and well; it’s just more nuanced. And to those guys in New Hampshire? Iron your own shirts!"

Media Perpetuates Sexism in Presidential Race

Ben Tannen, Yale Daily News, 2/29/08 | "[Among Facebook] groups, some of the most popular are: ‘Hillary Clinton: Stop Running for President and Make Me a Sandwich’ …and ‘Life’s a bitch, why vote for one?’"

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