I am not necessarily a Hillary supporter. (I am remaining staunchly undecided for now.) However, all the buzz about Hillary has brought up some very interesting questions about what it means to be a woman in power, and how the country reacts to the possibility of electing a woman president. So far, I am not happy with what I am seeing.When people are anti-Hillary, there are often vague reasons behind it. People say things like “her personality rubs me the wrong way” or “I don’t trust her.” Suddenly, the race has become a popularity contest and not about matters of policy. And Hillary is not the popular candidate.Is this something unique to Hillary, or is it something that all strong women have to face? In order to get ahead, we must seem tough and (God, I hate this phrase) “ballsy.” But there comes a certain point at which all the “ballsiness” makes people queasy. And come up with mean T-shirts.So, do you think that the anti-Hillary rhetoric is based in her policymaking decisions? Her personality? Her personality as a woman? Or is it rooted primarily in her sex?In my opinion, the fact that we seem to be unable to distinguish her “womanhood” from her “senatorhood” shows that we have a long way to go before the majority of Americans are willing to support a strong female candidate.
Filed under: politics
Dashaway
femmemeister
Bento
I think it mostly has to do with her personality and has little do to with her sex (although it is true, that some people, both men and women, won’t vote for her because she is a woman, which is ridiculous) . People see her as calculating and conniving, and someone who, when she talks, decides what to say based on polls and strategy rather than principle. They then see Obama, a younger, charismatic and exciting figure, whose message actually touches people and seems authentic.
Just because let’s say 63% of men don’t vote for Hillary and instead vote for Obama doesnt mean that they won’t vote for a woman, it just means that they do not like this specific woman and don’t believe she would be the right choice to become president of this country.
You may also want to ask the same question for Hillary supporters that you are asking for Obama/Edwards supporters. How many women are supporting Hillary simply b/c she is a woman? The question can go both ways. You may also need to bring out race then. How many white males and females are not voting for Obama b/c he is black? These questions are virtually impossible to answer b/c no one wants to be a bigot and publicly acknowledge that sex and/or race is a factor in their decision.
Blogvote,
I think your points are certainly correct. A lot of what I wrote above can apply to minority candidates, differently-abled candidates, a non-Christian candidate, or anyone else who is not a middle-aged WASP male in perfect health.
What I am most concerned about, however, is the fact that women seem to be caught in a bind when it comes to politics: they have to “play the game” to succeed, but are then accused of being worse people (worse than the male candidates, that is) for doing so.
I could be wrong, but it seems that Hillary has not been any more conniving than McCain, Huckabee, or even Obama (and she’s certainly been less so than Romney)–but she’s the one who gets called out on it the most (again, Romney excepted).
This is not to say that Hillary has made good decisions in her campaign–she has made a lot of poor decisions, and that shows. But I am wondering if people are less forgiving because she is seen as cold. And in America, being a cold woman is much worse than being a cold man.