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“Sometimes the best woman for the job is actually a man”

Jill

Yeah, no.

But with a Democratic house divided, now is the time for healing, and this can only happen if Hillary’s staunch female supporters let go of the reverse-sexist ideology that women are inherently better, wiser, and more compassionate leaders.

They will have to acknowledge that sometimes the best woman for the job is actually a man — if it’s the right man. Obama’s vote against the war, marriage to his female mentor, outstanding record on reproductive choice and a host of other progressive issues, and his uncanny ability to inspire people all over the world suggest he’s just that.

It is time to turn the page on myopic gender-based Feminism and concede that while patriarchy is real, so is female greed, dishonesty and corruptibility. It’s time to empower the feminisms embodied by millions of women and men who care about everyone, including, but not limited to, women.

This article by Rebecca Walker manages to prove only one thing: The best way to get feminist voices into major publications is to have those feminists beat up feminist straw-women. I mean, “reverse-sexist”? Really?

I don’t see a lot of feminists arguing that women are inherently more compassionate, caring, intelligent or good than men. Yeah, there are certainly a few who make that point, but they’re few and far between — I hear the “women are superior at being x,y, or z” meme more often from non-feminist-identified men and women, and from conservatives when they’re trying to make particular arguments about how women should stay home because it’s better for us. Most feminists I know are well aware that women can be assholes, too. And the feminist movement, as far as I can tell, has never been about arguing that women are morally superior; it’s been about securing equal rights and dismantling the structures that make it more difficult for some groups of people to get ahead.

I voted for Barack Obama. I like him a lot. He is very good on women’s issues. But that doesn’t make him the best “woman” for the job, any more than Bill Clinton was “the first Black president.” It erases the realities of being female to argue that a man can be a good enough “woman president;” it erases the fact that “good on women’s issues” is not the same as “woman;” it erases the importance of having women in positions of power. And it discounts just how huge of a milestone it will be when a woman is elected to the Presidency. We can applaud Obama on his progressive stances and keep him accountable on his less progressive ones without attributing to him a characteristic that he simply does not have. We can celebrate the practical and symbolic importance of his run for President without having to make him everything to everyone. And if we want to be as “post-gender” as Walker suggests, then perhaps we should really shift the paradigm and expect that issues of gender, racial and social justice be fundamental in any political system, and not the providence of “special interest groups” like women.

79 thoughts on “Sometimes the best woman for the job is actually a man”

  2. gender-based Feminism? reverse-sexism?

    Does anyone else get the sense that Rebecca Walker is working to aggressively unlearn everything that she must know about Feminism? I mean how can it be possible for someone who got the “Feminist of the Year” award or something to not understand feminism at such a fundamental level?

  3. Yeah, not surprised at all that it’s “that” Rebecca Walker. She never met a second-wave feminist she liked.

    I haven’t heard anyone argue that any woman in office is automatically better for women than even a liberal man in about 15 or 20 years. Is this even still a debate for some people?

    Personally, I do think that Barack Obama will probably be just as good for women as Hillary Clinton, if only because I didn’t entirely trust Clinton not to throw women under the bus again like the Democrats did with welfare “reform” in the 1990s. I don’t think Obama is going to be spectacularly better than Clinton would be, but I also don’t think he’ll be spectacularly worse.

  4. Jesus Fucking Christ.

    I voted for Obama, and this really pisses me off. It’s just another step in the whole sad line of shit about how the only reason anyone would vote for Clinton is because she’s a woman and the only reason anyone would vote for Obama is because he’s black.

    Just . . . just . . . shut up. For the love of fuck, shut up.

    Grrrrr.

    —Myca

  5. It is time to turn the page on myopic gender-based Feminism and concede that while patriarchy is real, so is female greed, dishonesty and corruptibility. It’s time to empower the feminisms embodied by millions of women and men who care about everyone, including, but not limited to, women.

    I’m not a feminist; I’m a humanist. Geeze louise!

  6. Eloquently put, Jill!

    It’s really sad that there are people increasing the already horrible public misunderstanding of feminism because of their more-or-less disgruntled status.

  7. I don’t really see how people can claim he has a strong stance on anything be it women’s issues or what have you. He rarely votes yes or no on the issues when they come up for a vote. This was one of the biggest reasons I couldn’t vote for him, and will not support him in the general election. I don’t trust someone who has carefully made sure that they have no record. It makes me wonder what they are hiding.

  8. *sigh* Does anyone else feel like telling Rebecca Walker to just knock it off and get some therapy instead?

    I know that a significant number of 2nd wavers look down on a lot of younger feminists, often without reason (IMO), but RW seems hellbent on proving them right…

  9. Since by most accounts Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton differ on the issues by about one percent, I’m left wondering: Why was her leaving the race so hotly debated if not because she’s a woman?

    (Put another way: If she weren’t a woman, do you think she would have waited on the stage so long?)

    That’s what I think was hardest to understand. There are people (women & men) who say they would rather vote for someone who shares virtually none of their values than vote for someone who shares most of them.

    So far as I can tell, simply because Obama has a penis and beat someone who has a vagina. That’s why it’s hard to dismiss the idea that some think he’s worse than she is because he’s a man and she’s a woman.

    Very few offered other compelling reasons to support her, so…

  10. I don’t really see how people can claim he has a strong stance on anything be it women’s issues or what have you.

    I imagine this would come as quite a shock to NARAL or Lorna Brett Howard.

    Here, by the way, is NARAL’s assessment of Obama’s record on choice:
    Link

    Money quote? You bet:

    Voting Record:
    Sen. Obama received the following scores on NARAL Pro-Choice America’s Congressional Record on Choice.

    2007: 100 percent
    2006: 100 percent
    2005: 100 percent

    And since women’s issues go far beyond simply access to abortion, here’s his record on issues like birth control and sex education too, handily compared to Sen McCain’s record, for the benefit of the “won’t support him come November” brigade.

    Link

    BTW, did anyone else catch Hillary’s speech today? I thought it was fantastic, and I’m a fully paid-up, Kool-aid drinking Obamaton.

  11. She never met a second-wave feminist she liked.

    I liked parts of to be real when I read it back in college, and really enjoyed Black, White & Jewish when it came out. But I never really identified with the intense generational animosity that was Rebecca Walker’s “third wave” style of feminism (speaking here as someone born in 1981), and continue to be frustrated with the way she continues to use stereotypes of feminism to call for a new direction . . . yes, there were (and probably are) self-identified feminists who think femininity is superior to masculinity, and women better/safer than men . . . but that is by no means the dominant feminist narrative!

  12. The only reason Walker is given a forum is because the right wing is using her as the anti-feminist. Particularly effective since her mother is Alice Walker. And she proves the point for them that since so many women did not feel the need to vote for a woman, feminism is not significant. To all those saying how liberated it was not to have to vote for a woman because she is a woman seemed to have failed to have the foresight how the right wing and patriarchal dems would use it to their advantage. When will younger women stop rebelling and start continuing the struggle of their mothers and grandmothers?

  13. And she proves the point for them that since so many women did not feel the need to vote for a woman, feminism is not significant.

    Wow. So that’s all it takes for feminism to become irrelevant, huh? A viable female presidential candidate who secured millions of votes in an historic race? Yeah, throw out your copy of Our Bodies, Ourselves… clearly we’re done here.

    To all those saying how liberated it was not to have to vote for a woman because she is a woman

    Can you point to where anyone said it was “liberating” to not have to vote for a woman because she is a woman?

    When will younger women stop rebelling and start continuing the struggle of their mothers and grandmothers?

    …maybe when you stop treating us like bratty teenagers?

    Seriously, people of good faith can disagree on which Democratic nominee was the better choice. Voting for Obama is not the same as “rebelling” against the feminist struggles that went before us. And it’s ridiculous and divisive to position it that way.

  14. I really need to buy one of those “I’ll Be Post-Feminist in the Post-Patriarchy” bumper-stickers that NOW is selling. “Reverse-sexist ideology”? Sheesh.

  15. Hillary only rates best on women’s issues if you think that Iraq is not a women’s issue.

    I’m still not convinced by the ‘milestone’ issue. Was Thatcher a milestone? Thirty years on, I’m not seeing any effect she’s had, compared to political societies that have never had a female leader. I think that individual female leaders are far less important than having a climate in which there’s no discrimination against female leaders. The US has neither, and Clinton squeaking through would probably not have changed the second.

  16. Sigh….Rebecca Walker seems to have a vast misunderstanding of what feminism is. Everything I’ve read of hers recently is inaccurate to the point of being offensive. And I agree with Mike, above, in that she seems to take her issues with her mother out on all other women.
    Besides, “I spoke at Harvard a few years ago on the necessity of ending divisiveness”????

    How ’bout practicing what you preach, then, instead of causing further divisiveness???

  17. the belief that a woman would make a better president is still out there, we got to hear a lot of it through the primary process. Has none of you had a friend say something along the lines of “if a woman were president there would be wars!!”? I know that line of thinking isnt heard much in these circles but the majority of people I know are very much gender essentialists and I hear that kind of thing often.
    As far as the best woman for the job being a man? Yeah not so much, the best person for any job might be a man, might be a woman.

  18. My apologies if this is off-track, but personally, I think that Rebecca Walker needs to get over herself. She sems to me as a so called feminist who has a need to develop a new type of feminism (third wave) to fit her definition and to scold those of us who think feminism is doing just fine without her. I admit that I might need to read up on what tird wave feminism is before I reject it out of hand, but I am pretty happy with the feminist that I am (38, PhD, married, happy, cat owner, political junkie).
    I may be a hard core Hillary supporter (still)–and now an Obama supporter–but I beleive that Hillary would have been the better candidate, and not because she is a woman, but because she has the traits I want to see in the leader of the United States–AND is a woman. Feminism has taught me (and my husband) a whole lot of things, mainly that while both men and women bring different traits to the table–each which should be celebrated–, neither is automatically better at any given profession. What I thank the feminists before me for is the fight for being treated equally (sowhat) at my job in a male domnated profssion, for being paid the same (relatively), and for not being shunned if I decided to procreate and keep my job (hopefully)–obviously these fights are still going on–and I would prefer to fight them instead of fighting ourselves. We can not pretend they are no longer issues, which does not mean that I am unsympathetic tothe plight of women across the world.
    The fact that this contest has pitted feminists against feminists is even more disappointing to me than the politics in pitting democrats against democrats–overall democrats will be fine–we will win larger majorities in the house and senate–and hopefully the whitehouse, but unless women really come together and appreciate the struggles previous feminists fought for and continue on that all important path, we will be regressing to a period in which I would not want to raise a female child. I was told I had choices–and I honesstly believed that and made the best of it, but I still beleive I have had to work harder as a woman to come as far as a man in my field.
    Hillary deserves all the kudos she can be given. She is my hero, and I cannot wait to sing her paraises to all the young impressionalbe girls that are told that they can get theri dreams if they reach for the stars.
    Thank you for reading.

  19. But with a Democratic house divided, now is the time for healing, and this can only happen if Hillary’s staunch female supporters let go of the reverse-sexist ideology that women are inherently better, wiser, and more compassionate leaders.

    What a load of crap. Who has ever said that women are better than men?

    They will have to acknowledge that sometimes the best woman for the job is actually a man — if it’s the right man. Obama’s vote against the war, marriage to his female mentor, outstanding record on reproductive choice and a host of other progressive issues, and his uncanny ability to inspire people all over the world suggest he’s just that.

    More crap. I personally think Obama was the right choice on a laundry list of policy reasons. What does that have to do with him being a better representative of women, than for men? It means, to me, that he’s a better representative at this point in time, of my values and priorities.

    It is time to turn the page on myopic gender-based Feminism and concede that while patriarchy is real, so is female greed, dishonesty and corruptibility. It’s time to empower the feminisms embodied by millions of women and men who care about everyone, including, but not limited to, women.

    Jesus Christ, what the hell is she talking about? Does this woman know anything about feminism? What a wanker.

  20. Wow, Walker is on quite the roll. If I ever need someone to beat the shit out of a strawfeminist (and who doesn’t?!), I sure as hell know who to call!

  21. I couldnt bring myself to read the article after that headline. I’m not surprised it is as stupid as I imagined.

  22. I don’t really see how people can claim he has a strong stance on anything be it women’s issues or what have you. He rarely votes yes or no on the issues when they come up for a vote. This was one of the biggest reasons I couldn’t vote for him, and will not support him in the general election. I don’t trust someone who has carefully made sure that they have no record. It makes me wonder what they are hiding.

    But you will help usher in a candidate who does have a strong stand on pushing women’s issues back a couple of decades? I am not here to try and convince anyone to vote for Obama. But it is staggering to consider the leaps and bounds of logic required when “feminists” or you’d rather, “advocates for women” vote for McCain instead of Obama. Also.

    He rarely votes yes or no on the issues when they come up for a vote.

    Huh? What does that mean?

  23. Sonia, it’s probably a reference to his “present” votes made when he was in the Illinois state senate, regarding abortion, which have been covered about 50 gazillion times. The strategy was NARAL’s idea. Obama fought NARAL and wanted to issue a proper vote on the bill in question. NARAL believes that his “present” vote was the best he could have done for reproductive rights at the time, has given him a 100% score and made every effort to reach out to the media to explain that Obama’s vote was indeed a pro-choice vote.

    If there’s something else I’m missing about his failure to take a stand for women, I’d love to hear it. But if it’s still the “present” vote crap, it’s time to move on.

  24. Hillary lost because of her Iraq War vote. At the most basic level, that’s the reason, IMO. I really think this article misses the point by a country mile. I really don’t think ultimately that Clinton was denied nomination because she’s a woman. And this article is totally out on a limb that Obama is “better” on women’s issues. I really don’t know what the hell she’s talking about there.

    There’s not doubt that Clinton faced a lot of hostility in the media, much of it sexist and misogynist. I also think Clinton prover herself strong, resilient, and better qualified and prepared than most of her male counterparts in the campaign.

    But, there’s no way that, broadly speaking, she lost this race because Obama was “better” on women’s issues. And I really don’t think the caricature of the “bitter” feminist Hillary supporter bears any merit. I think most people who support her recognize her for what she is: an extremely competent and qualified person. That said, most Democrats hated the Iraq war from the beginning. They was an ambient, palpable desire for a credible and charasmatic candidate that had strong anti-war credentials.

  25. From the article –

    “This can only happen if Hillary’s staunch female supporters let go of the reverse-sexist ideology that women are inherently better, wiser, and more compassionate leaders.”

    I have heard a lot of crazy mess during this primary, but I have never heard anyone use that justification. Wonder where she got that from?

    And reverse sexism is bullshit. Just like reverse racism.

  26. WHAT is the deal with Rebecca Walker? Is there no feminist strawman so extreme and out-of-date that she won’t spend an entire page criticizing it? She’s obviously a smart woman, but she’s turning into a bit of a one trick pony here.

  27. I also think Clinton prover herself strong, resilient, and better qualified and prepared than most of her male counterparts in the campaign.

    I don’t see how she could have done that while simultaneously losing the nomination.

  28. I don’t see how she could have done that while simultaneously losing the nomination.

    Why not? First, he said “most,” not “all.” And since she did beat most of her male counterparts in the campaign, that’s a fair assessment. Second, losing doesn’t automatically translate to less qualified/prepared/etc. I think Al Gore was better qualified and prepared than George W. Bush, but he still lost — doesn’t prove much, though.

  29. …now is the time for healing, and this can only happen if Hillary’s staunch female supporters let go of the reverse-sexist ideology that women are inherently better, wiser, and more compassionate leaders.

    Note, she did not write “ALL of hillary’s female supporters,” she wrote “staunch.” I took this as a reference to the MANY women (some here on this very thread) who have thrown hissies and proclaimed that they will not vote for Obama and will either abstain or vote for McCain instead. Because Obama (arguably) has the better record when it comes to women’s issues (Yes, i consider the war, union busting, and NAFTA to be women’s issues), many of us are left shaking our heads wondering why these hillary-boosters would not support our nominee. The conclusions aren’t pretty. Either these women won’t vote for him because he’s a man– or they won’t vote for him because he’s a black man. No other reason makes sense in the face of a threatened vote for McCain.

    It is time to turn the page on myopic gender-based Feminism and concede that while patriarchy is real, so is female greed, dishonesty and corruptibility. It’s time to empower the feminisms embodied by millions of women and men who care about everyone, including, but not limited to, women.

    Preach on Ms. Walker! How were British women’s lives made better when Maggie Thatcher took office? How much better are the lives of Black women post Condi Rice? All Walker is arguing is that feminist ideals aren’t always tied to gender… that women can be (and frequently ARE) the handmaidens of the patriarchy. Clinton has supported enough political projects that have been harmful to women and children to make me believe that she is not the sort of feminist I want in office. What is so hard for people to understand about that?

  30. I don’t see how she could have done that while simultaneously losing the nomination.

    They’re not mutually exclusive. I can only speak for myself, but when I watched those presidential debates, Clinton dominated most of the male candidates on stage, with her command and knowledge of policy, and her mere stature. She was impressive.

    Like I said, when one gets down to brass tacks, Clinton lost to Obama because of her Iraq war vote. If Clinton had been an outspoken, principled, and consistent critic of the War from the start, she wins hands down. IMO.

  31. All Walker is arguing is that feminist ideals aren’t always tied to gender… that women can be (and frequently ARE) the handmaidens of the patriarchy. Clinton has supported enough political projects that have been harmful to women and children to make me believe that she is not the sort of feminist I want in office. What is so hard for people to understand about that?

    Nothing. I don’t think anyone disputes the fact that some women can be worse than some men for feminism and social justice. I’m just taking issue with her “reverse sexism” arguments, and the idea that “the best woman for the job is actually a man.” Bill Clinton was a better president than, say, Clarence Thomas would have been, but that doesn’t make him “the first Black president.” Obama is not the first female president. That’s all. No one is disputing that he could be a good feminist president.

  32. the belief that a woman would make a better president is still out there, we got to hear a lot of it through the primary process. Has none of you had a friend say something along the lines of “if a woman were president there would be wars!!”? I know that line of thinking isnt heard much in these circles but the majority of people I know are very much gender essentialists and I hear that kind of thing often.

    I have heard that too.

    But, I think what many people mean is not that if you had the a single woman, or even a handful of women, as heads of states in a few nations, that there would be less wars. I know I don’t believe that.

    I think what most people are alluding to, is that if the institutions of power across the planet were shared equally by men and women; and if the traditional foundations of patriarchy were razed to the ground, we would have a world where the synergies and interests of both men and women would be combined to form more egalitarian and equitable societies. And, perhaps, a natural consequence of that is war would be less common.

    I certainly see evidence of that in nations that, at least nominally, have a more egalitarian and equitable sharing of institutional power between men and women. Sweden doesn’t seem to go to war a lot.

  33. Yeah, throw out your copy of Our Bodies, Ourselves… clearly we’re done here.

    Kind of snotty, don’t yolu think?

    Aren’t you doing the same thing you’re taking the commenter to task for?

  34. How did she manage to get “Obama’s vote against the war” past CNN’s fact-checkers? Does CNN even have fact-checkers anymore?

  35. Kind of snotty, don’t yolu think?

    Aren’t you doing the same thing you’re taking the commenter to task for?

    Who did I take to task for being snotty?

  36. But you will help usher in a candidate who does have a strong stand on pushing women’s issues back a couple of decades? I am not here to try and convince anyone to vote for Obama. But it is staggering to consider the leaps and bounds of logic required when “feminists” or you’d rather, “advocates for women” vote for McCain instead of Obama. Also.

    I’m not going to vote for McCain. I’m going to vote for the green party candidate. If Obama loses, it will be because he spent months insulting and turning off voters like me.

    Sonia, it’s probably a reference to his “present” votes made when he was in the Illinois state senate, regarding abortion, which have been covered about 50 gazillion times.

    Actually I meant the 2007 Iran issue. He has gone on and on about how against it he was, yet he didn’t even bother to vote on it. Where was his “no” vote if he was so against it?

  37. But you will help usher in a candidate who does have a strong stand on pushing women’s issues back a couple of decades? I am not here to try and convince anyone to vote for Obama. But it is staggering to consider the leaps and bounds of logic required when “feminists” or you’d rather, “advocates for women” vote for McCain instead of Obama.

    What’s with all the admonishments all over the blogs the last couple days not to vote for McCain? You can have a hundred comments from Hillary supporters, not one saying a word about McCain, and some dude will stride in and inform them all that John McCain’s not a feminist and will set back women’s rights. No shit, Noam Chomsky. Did you know we have the option of voting third-party or write-in too?

    Hillary lost because of her Iraq War vote. …
    …most Democrats hated the Iraq war from the beginning. They was an ambient, palpable desire for a credible and charasmatic candidate that had strong anti-war credentials.

    Obama’s voting record on Iraq, since he’s been in the Senate, and his plan for getting out of it, and his “anti-war credentials” are practically identical to Clinton’s. Wait ’til the general campaign gets underway and he has to start talking tough against the GOP trying to make him out to be a wussy liberal terrorist sympathizer. It’s going to be amusing to see all these “he’s a strong opponent of the Iraq war” deludeds eating their hats.

  38. Since by most accounts Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton differ on the issues by about one percent, I’m left wondering: Why was her leaving the race so hotly debated if not because she’s a woman?

    Well let’s look at it from the other direction, shall we? Since they’re virtually the same on the issues, but Hillary’s been in the Senate longer, and they were virtually tied in votes and delegates and primaries won the whole way, why wasn’t it hotly debated that Obama should leave the race?

  39. My point about liberating was that there have been alot of blog posts about how feminism has enable women to vote for a man or a woman. That 3rd wavers do not feel obligated to vote for a woman. Sort of like ‘You’ve come a long way baby’ theme. Look at some archives on feminist sites and you will see the debate.

    I have to disagree with the argument that Hillary lost the primary due to her war vote. There were other dems that voted also, granted they were not running for the nomination. She lost for a lot of reasons, some of it bad campaigning, but many for outside out of her control attacks like the media. Have you watched any of the videos posted on youtube compiling the sexism during this campaign. It is mindboggling to witness; that will come back and haunt the media and Obama in October. You can’t tell me that the republicans will not use every tactic in the book to get McCain elected. Especially if Congress will turn into a democratic domination. All you have to do is play some of those compilations right before the election and Hillary supporters will stay home.

  40. Apparently quite a few people have missed the black morass that is “cultural feminism” / “difference feminism.” See, for example, Robin West. She starts with essentialism, arguing that Women are a certain way, and that these Feminine traits are devalued in our society. If you’re an essentialist, maybe that’s a reasonable position. However, she goes further to argue that Feminine traits are better for society, and should be superordinate over Masculine traits.

    “Feminism is the radical idea that women are people” makes a great bumper sticker, but it’s really not the full extent of feminist thought, especially once you move out of liberal feminism. Perhaps I’ve been unduly influenced by Janet Halley (I loved “Split Decisions”), but I really don’t think it’s accurate to say that the “feminist movement . . . has never been about arguing that women are morally superior.”

  41. All you have to do is play some of those compilations right before the election and Hillary supporters will stay home.

    That and the Democrats decided to write the Republican ads for both Florida and Michigan. All of the nonsense that led up to those delegates being counted as half will haunt them in the general. Obviously they have learned nothing from the close races in Florida in years past and thought pissing off democrats there was a good idea.

  42. I have to disagree with the argument that Hillary lost the primary due to her war vote. There were other dems that voted also, granted they were not running for

    While Clinton’s war vote is certainly not the only reason she lost, I believe strongly that it, her unwillingness to say that it was a mistake, and her generally hawkish stance contributed greatly. I honestly don’t know if that stance represented her policy orientation or political calculation, though I’ve always thought it’s the latter. Either way it wasn’t a winning position in the 08 Dem primary. It’s possible that she really is a more hawkish candidate, but I suspect that she and her team bought the hype about her own inevitability* and started campaigning for the general election before voting began in the primary.

    By the time I got a chance to vote, my two preferred candidates were out of the race and I had to choose between two people about whom I was fairly unenthusiastic. Although I preferred much of Clinton’s domestic platform, her votes on Iraq and Iran led me to vote for Obama. Had she admitted that her Iraq vote was a mistake and not repeated it with her Iran vote, my admiration for her domestic platform would have probably led me to vote for her despite a distaste for 24+ years of two family rule.

    *Her campaign’s apparent failure to plan for the possibility a protracted primary contest is the other great clue.

  43. Clinton has supported enough political projects that have been harmful to women and children to make me believe that she is not the sort of feminist I want in office. What is so hard for people to understand about that?

    I don’t know. I guess it depends on how you define “women”. I don’t think NAFTA for example is women-affirming and I believe it’s harmful to women including many White working class women who Clinton championed for (at least this time around) not to mention many women including those in Mexico.

    As for those voting third party because they don’t support Obama or McCain, certainly that’s an option. Though for some of us, Cynthia Mckinney’s a first choice, not a second one.

    I live in Republicanland but what’s interesting is that for all the controveresy with the Democratic nomination, I’ve been hearing more badmouthing of McCain than anything else by Republicans and independents.

  44. So… I’m not American. I’ve been following along on the blogs, but I’m not personally speaking with American feminists every single day about the election.

    I have not noticed a SINGLE feminist commentator saying that she (or he) would vote for McCain to spite the Democrats because of Clinton’s loss. Have I just missed it? Where are these feminists throwing hissy fits and saying they’re going to vote for McCain?

    Can anyone point me to something or someone saying this? Please? Because right now, I’m very confused. It sounds ridiculous to me, but if there’s someone who has actually said this, I would like to read the rationale.

    I do, however, think that it’s incredibly obnoxious of Democrats to ignore and perpetrate misogyny throughout the campaign, and then treat justifiably angry feminists as if they’re throwing “hissy” fits while bringing up the reproductive rights bogeyman over and over. It’s absolutely appalling. That’s not championing women’s rights. That’s holding women hostage because they don’t want to lose the right to control their own bodies. I find that hugely offensive. I even called it anti-choice over at Shakesville.

  45. Exactly what prarielily said. I’m not from the Americas either, and it’s been bemusing and hella scary to watch voters decide between the right-wing candidate and the extremely-far-right-wing candidate.

    I’m not believing the hoard of miffed feminazis story. Just another way for fauxgressives to get their hate on.

    I was trying to get some stats on the rate of swinging voters in the US, and according to Wikipedia (which of course embodies Truth with a capital TRU ):

    While the swing voter is ostensibly the target of most political activity during elections, in countries without compulsory voting the political parties know that the shift from one party to another is dependent only to a limited extent on swing voters. Another, arguably larger factor is the success of one party in comparison to another in getting out its core support. In a two-party system, those who become disillusioned with their favored party are more likely to vote third-party or abstain than cross over.

    Since you don’t have compulsory voting, I imagine it would only be the committed (“rusted-on” as they are called here) who vote, and Obama has certainly done a fantastic job of committing people. Surely it’s easier for the undecided to just stay at home.

    I’m heartened by people saying they will vote for the Greens – two party systems are never too healthy – though, and I’m not sure on this point, I believe that such votes can hurt the main parties, since you don’t have a preferential system? Still, you don’t have a House of Lords, so that’s a relief.

  46. I’m not going to vote for McCain. I’m going to vote for the green party candidate.

    Oh, for crying out loud. There are two plausible candidates. Not voting for Obama is helping McCain. Not voting McCain is helping Obama. Is the fact that conservatives understand this and so many liberals/progressives/whatevers don’t the reason that the Republican Party has dominated the White House over the past 40 years?

    At any rate, Anne, I thought your main problem with Obama was his weakness on women’s issues. Care to explain how the green party’s candidate is better? Care to explain precisely what it is about Sen Obama you find objectionable, after having been directed, repeatedly, to evidence of his extremely strong record?

    If Obama loses, it will be because he spent months insulting and turning off voters like me.

    HUH?! Like what? I’ve followed the campaign pretty closely, and while I don’t support and can’t defend everything he did, I just don’t see months upon months of insults.

    Seriously, are you just absolutely determined not to vote Obama, and picking out of the air increasingly preposterous non-justifications?

    Where are these feminists throwing hissy fits and saying they’re going to vote for McCain?

    Can anyone point me to something or someone saying this?

    Yes. Here’s a slate article about a CBS poll which reported that 22% of Clinton supporters would vote McCain. Obviously, I can’t speak to the feminist credentials of that 22% (and I dare say that the feminist cred of anyone who votes Republican is weak, to say the least), but the phenomenon is real and significant.
    Link

  47. Oh, for crying out loud. There are two plausible candidates. Not voting for Obama is helping McCain. Not voting McCain is helping Obama.

    That is just typical garbage people spew because they need to blame a loss on someone. It also doesn’t make sense. Voting doesn’t have to be about picking a winner. It is that sort of thinking that makes politics in this country such a joke. I fully realize that the green party candidate will not win. I have voted for someone who has lost since I was first able to vote in 2000, and in both 2000 and 2004 I voted for a democrat. Hmm…maybe given my track record in picking Presidential losers, I should support Obama and make sure he really does lose.

    HUH?! Like what? I’ve followed the campaign pretty closely, and while I don’t support and can’t defend everything he did, I just don’t see months upon months of insults.

    Well like I already explained one thing is his lack of voting on Iran. The fact that his campaign fed the myth that anyone who doesn’t like him is racist. His dismissive attitude towards women. His dismissive attitude towards Clinton supporters. His obvious poor judgements in so-called friends. The lack of the strong record you claim he has. What he has is a record of talking about things. Not actually doing them. I find that insulting. His obvious disrespect for Florida and Michigan, evidently they are only half-voters. He didn’t come out against the overwhelming sexism in the media. He sat idly by. The fact that he gloried in the disturbing behavior of his supporters towards Clinton supporters. Now that the primaries are over he wants them to be nice, too little too late.

    Now that the potential of her supporters going elsewhere is looking like a reality, he wants to act like he is sorry and that he never meant any of it. Kind of like an abusive boyfriend asking a woman to take him back, because he is “sorry and it will never happen again”.

  48. just don’t see months upon months of insults.

    What?! You didn’t see Obama’s “All white people suck, and women are all ho’s and by the way you’re all bastards!” speech? I’m sure I read about that one on a pro-Clinton blog somewhere…</snark>

  49. I’m proud to vote for Cynthia McKinney if she’s Green this year. The legislation she proposed and tried to push in a misogynist minded Congress was more affirming to women than what most Democratic candidates promise to do. I don’t agree with all of her positions and votes but I don’t have that feeling of having to hold my nose to vote Democrat that I’ve had for ages now.

    Cynthia McKinney

    A lot of the issues that she takes stances on are so important to many women but are ignored by either major party or not seen as important or about women, even by other female candidates.

    I like this quote too:

    “Republicans have deceived us; Democrats have failed us.”

    I agree. I think the Democratic Party has failed women. It’s simply seen by many as a stopgap against Republican misogyny, but not in itself providing much of a better alternative. And when it comes to women being invisible in this election, I think that’s true about her as well.

  51. AnonymousCoward:

    Sure, there are a wide variety of philosophies under the umbrella of feminism. But I don’t think you can say that the essentialist ideas really make up the dominant face of feminism. (That’s without getting into how feminism is often characterized by anti-feminists as championing female dominance, which is an entirely different issue.)

  52. Well like I already explained one thing is his lack of voting on Iran.

    I wasn’t wild about this either, but you think it amounts to an insult to you and people like you? Really? What about the fact that he’s the only candidate to advocate negotiation with Iran?

    The fact that his campaign fed the myth that anyone who doesn’t like him is racist.

    When did he, his campaign, or a high-profile endorser say or imply this? The fact that some of his supporters said stupid things on the internet, which I agree they did, is not the same as Obama saying them. Evidence that this actually happened, please?

    His dismissive attitude towards women.

    Like?

    His obvious poor judgements in so-called friends.

    If you mean Wright, then that’s a complicated issue, but a few things are worth bearing in mind. First, Obama right from the outset made very clear where he differed from Wright, and publicly rejected and denounced him. Secondly, I for one fail to see what was *that* objectionable about Wright’s sermons. Now, I’m an atheist, but if I were a Christian, that is, if I professed to follow the example of Jesus Christ, I would consider it axiomatic that God damns nations who start illegal wars of aggression and fail to care for their most vulnerable members. Given that these are two problems that an Obama presidency would go along way towards solving, I don’t the the big problem. Thirdly, individuals’ relationships with their churches and with their gods are phenomenally complex things; and especially in young African-American communities people like Jeremiah Wright to a lot of good, and that should be balanced against the less pleasant things that come out of their mouths. To say that Wright is just a bad guy is simplistic; to hold Obama responsible for his pastor’s words is simplistic and dishonest. And perhaps if you thought about it just a little bit harder, you wouldn’t leap headlong to titanic overreactions like being insulted by the man’s pastor.

    If you mean Rezko, or Ayers, I remind you that his association with them was hardly one of ‘friendship’, at least not in the conventional sense of that word.

    The lack of the strong record you claim he has.

    Did you even bother to look at the links I provided at post 10? Just because you say it repeatedly, doesn’t make it so. Some evidence would be nice. Here’s a comprehensive account of both his voting record and his policies on the major issues. I think it clearly shows a man who is more than just talk, and who is capable of taking a strong stance. Link

    His obvious disrespect for Florida and Michigan, evidently they are only half-voters.

    Actually, that was the DNC’s decision, based on the clear rules that everybody agreed upon beforehand.

    Now that the primaries are over he wants them to be nice

    No. Now that the primaries are over and a nominee has been chosen, the Democratic party (including Clinton and the vast majority of her supporters) thinks it would be a good idea to end the internecine warfare, unite, and focus on what really matters; the war, the economy, healthcare, and beating the Republicans. It takes a special kind of stupid to interpret post-primary healing as an unreasonable request for deference by Obama.

    Now that the potential of her supporters going elsewhere is looking like a reality, he wants to act like he is sorry and that he never meant any of it. Kind of like an abusive boyfriend asking a woman to take him back, because he is “sorry and it will never happen again”.

    Wow. Just wow. Do you really believe that Obama is no better than a wife-beater? Is this what passes for serious political analysis?

  53. Kind of like an abusive boyfriend asking a woman to take him back, because he is “sorry and it will never happen again”.

    This is ridiculous. And offensive.

  54. “That’s holding women hostage because they don’t want to lose the right to control their own bodies. I find that hugely offensive. “

    You are absolutely right on this comment. And Obama supporter pundits on CNN make it clear they think women will be forced to vote for him based on the Supreme Court alone.

    Alot of people talk about what a waste it is to vote green. If the green party had Al Gore running I would vote for him over Obama or McCain. The reality is we need a 3 party system because the the two parties we have are halved. Both contain moderate and ultra-liberal or ultra-conservative factions. We need one liberal party, one conservative party and one moderate one. Factor in capitalism and socialist workers party we could easily have a 5 or six party system.

  55. To prairielily and others asking: I hadn’t seen the poll linked above, but I heard a caller on an local public radio show vow to vote for McCain rather than Obama, for precisely the reasons imputed here.

    Maybe people have been spending so much attention on the Democratic primary that they haven’t noticed John “Maverick” McCain morphing into John “Whatever it takes” McCain.

  56. Alot of people talk about what a waste it is to vote green. If the green party had Al Gore running I would vote for him over Obama or McCain. The reality is we need a 3 party system because the the two parties we have are halved. Both contain moderate and ultra-liberal or ultra-conservative factions. We need one liberal party, one conservative party and one moderate one. Factor in capitalism and socialist workers party we could easily have a 5 or six party system.

    I’m not sure whether or not Gore fits in with the Green’s political platform and they have a perfectly fine candidate already. And I don’t think I’d vote for him. He threw enough voters in Florida under the bus when he should have been advocating for their rights to cast votes without being illegally expunged or threatened with arrest, or forced to stop at checkpoints just for voting.

    As for these different “third-parties”, most of them already exist. They just don’t receive the same recognition or validation by the two-party-and-want-to-keep-it-that-way system firmly in place. And when it comes to scaring women, they do that to many to keep it that way.

  57. “That’s holding women hostage because they don’t want to lose the right to control their own bodies. I find that hugely offensive. “

    Except here’s the thing. As the liberal Supreme Court justices are rapidly approaching the age of retirement/death, the next president will undoubtedly have a chance to appoint some justices, whose beliefs will shape policy for many, many years to come.

    If this weren’t the case, I would agree with you.

    As flawed as the two-party system is, it’s what we have established in America. And it’s not going to change with one single presidential election. Why choose this election, when so much is at stake, to try to change it? Let’s get some balance to the Supreme Court first. This is not the election to support a spoiler candidate.

    And because of the way we count our elections in the United States, a third party candidate if virtually guaranteed to be a spoiler.

    I have a young daughter, and thinking that she might live in a country where she might die of a septic abortion or ectopic pregnancy or perforated uterus sometimes keeps me up at night. I’m not willing to sell out her future in order to send a message to the Democrats that they won’t hear anyway.

  58. I wasn’t wild about this either, but you think it amounts to an insult to you and people like you? Really? What about the fact that he’s the only candidate to advocate negotiation with Iran?

    Actually I find it insulting because it asks that for us to trust what he says on Iran. And he has has some double talk on Iran, so which message should be trusted?Why should we trust someone who couldn’t be bothered to vote?

    Actually, that was the DNC’s decision, based on the clear rules that everybody agreed upon beforehand.

    Yeah and he supported it until the bitter end. Which was a horrible idea. Florida has been so important in the last few elections, and the DNC and anyone who supported that decision disrespected those voters. By disrespecting them, they chose to potentially lose all those votes in the general election. As I said before they wrote the Republican ads that will play in those two states until the general election. The voters were not the ones who made the choice to move the primary, yet they got punished for it.

    It takes a special kind of stupid to interpret post-primary healing as an unreasonable request for deference by Obama.

    Actually it doesn’t. It takes a special kind of stupid to think you disrepect people for months and then win them back. If he wanted our votes there would not be the constant remarks about bitterness, being emotional, etc. If he wanted our support, he shouldn’t have spent so much time turning us off. And if the many Obama supporters wanted healing they would not have behaved the way they did, many are still behaving this way. If Obama supporters really cared about healing they would be the most vocal about boycotting the sexist media.

    Now that the primaries are over and a nominee has been chosen, the Democratic party (including Clinton and the vast majority of her supporters) thinks it would be a good idea to end the internecine warfare, unite, and focus on what really matters; the war, the economy, healthcare, and beating the Republicans.

    You are not actually naive enough to think that she actually supports him are you? She had to come out and act like she did because otherwise she would have been the first one people blamed when he loses in November. Reality unless she is the VP pick, I tend to think she will not be. (Even if she was I would not be able to support Obama) I don’t think she will be campaigning for him all that much. She will probably be blamed by the pundits anyway. Goodness forbid that Obama take responsibility for anything.

    Did you even bother to look at the links I provided at post 10? Just because you say it repeatedly, doesn’t make it so.

    Actually I did look at it. And the link you just posted. And both are largely based on things he has said, very little on what he has done.

    Wow. Just wow. Do you really believe that Obama is no better than a wife-beater?

    On second thought no. I actually think he is more like the person who watches something horrible happen and does nothing. He said and did nothing about the way the media has behaved. He didn’t care that women were called whores at events that were organized through his website.

    And perhaps if you thought about it just a little bit harder, you wouldn’t leap headlong to titanic overreactions like being insulted by the man’s pastor

    Actually I wasn’t even thinking about the pastor. In regard to the church flap, I do think it did show some of Obama’s character. He claims he never heard him say things that could be seen as Anti-American. Why not tell the truth? That he doesn’t pay attention in church. There is nothing wrong with that, provided one admits it. I never payed attention in church either, which is why I stopped going when I was 12, and am now agnostic.

    I also tend to think he chose his church for politcal reasons. It is a huge church, being a member meant having a lot of supporters.

    In truth regarding the Father Phleger flap, I was more offended by the response of his audience who seemed to think he was so incredibly funny in his racially divisive and sexist message.

    Evidence that this actually happened, please?

    You mean like the comment about “typical white people”. You mean when his campaign went on and on about what Clinton said about President Johnson and the Civil Rights act, making it into something that it wasn’t? The deliberate misinterpretation of the faitytale comment by Bill Clinton.

  59. Anne- The McCain Campaign thanks you for your support. The anti-choice movement thanks you for your support. Neoconservatives thank you for your support. Heckuva job, Anne.

  60. And if the many Obama supporters wanted healing they would not have behaved the way they did, many are still behaving this way. If Obama supporters really cared about healing they would be the most vocal about boycotting the sexist media.

    I’m sure you’re going nuts right now over Larry Johnson’s latest at No Quarter, right? And that you’re directly targeting the bigotry and racism perpetuated at Hillis44, right? Right? Right. I’m sure you are.

  61. Obama is not the first female president. That’s all. No one is disputing that he could be a good feminist president.

    Thank you. I think a lot of people subconsciously equate “feminist” with “has a vagina” without even blinking. I’m reminded of a Cynthia Heimel piece in which she argues that she is female, but not always “feminine.” Biologically female does not mean socially female, and vice versa.

  62. Anne is exactly right. I’d go further than she did: Obama was worse than silent in response to vile media slurs against Clinton. I won’t soon forget “periodically,” “sweetie,” “claws,” and other misogynous words out of the mouth of the candidate himself, D.N. And if you think that refusing to forgive these insults equals shilling for McCain, so be it.

  63. Anne- The McCain Campaign thanks you for your support. The anti-choice movement thanks you for your support. Neoconservatives thank you for your support. Heckuva job, Anne.

    Get over yourself. Like I have always said if Obama loses the only one to blame is hmself for turning off voters. And you certainly are not capable of turning one on.

    I’m sure you’re going nuts right now over Larry Johnson’s latest at No Quarter, right? And that you’re directly targeting the bigotry and racism perpetuated at Hillis44, right? Right? Right. I’m sure you are.

    No I’ve never heard of that site nor do I intend to go there.

  64. Jill, awesome post. Agree with your take on Walker and especially like:

    we should really shift the paradigm and expect that issues of gender, racial and social justice be fundamental in any political system, and not the providence of “special interest groups” like women.

    Right the fuck on.

  65. Wiggles

    What’s with all the admonishments all over the blogs the last couple days not to vote for McCain? You can have a hundred comments from Hillary supporters, not one saying a word about McCain, and some dude will stride in and inform them all that John McCain’s not a feminist and will set back women’s rights. No shit, Noam Chomsky. Did you know we have the option of voting third-party or write-in too?

    First of all, I didn’t say “vote for Mccain” (which famously many hillary supporters have threatened to do). I said “help usher in”. My problem with voters of Mccain is not that they will vote for McCain per se. My problem is that if you as a voter was orginally going to vote for Clinton, then why would you ever vote for her exact opposite (McCain or even help him win) instead of her legislative twin (Obama).

    I don’t have any issues with people who will vote the Green Party because they can’t stand any of the candidates. But I do resent those who will pick the Green Party (or worse Mccain) when their original intention was someone like Clinton. I have not heard one coherent rationale for this.

    Obama’s voting record on Iraq, since he’s been in the Senate, and his plan for getting out of it, and his “anti-war credentials” are practically identical to Clinton’s. Wait ’til the general campaign gets underway and he has to start talking tough against the GOP trying to make him out to be a wussy liberal terrorist sympathizer. It’s going to be amusing to see all these “he’s a strong opponent of the Iraq war” deludeds eating their hats.</

    .

    umm… of course it is. Voting for protecting the troops, just one example. It’s easy to forget this now with Bush’s approval rating at what.. 20%. But 5 years ago, if you had taken the stance that Obama took, you were a traitor, an unpatriotic goon. He was one of the very very few, very very rare people in power who publically took a stand against the war. And as many have noted before me, it is the reason Obama won this election.

  66. I also question Obama’s willingness to speak with any country that subjugates women like Iran. He may be more feminist than Hillary in the U.S., but negotiating with country like Iran sends the opposite message with regard to women. The way Bush deals with Saudi Arabia is another prime example that womens rights get pushed by the wayside. So, I don’t hold Obama to a higher expectation.

  67. In regard to the church flap, I do think it did show some of Obama’s character. He claims he never heard him say things that could be seen as Anti-American. Why not tell the truth?

    It’s anti-American for a black man to express anger over the way he and his people have been treated for centuries in this country?

    I have to say, you’re not making a very good case for purported Clinton supporters deciding to vote for McCain/vote third party for completely non-racist reasons.

    It’s kind of amazing to me that when these discussions come up, everyone seems to be solely focused on Obama’s gender and not his race and somehow think that his race was an asset. Because, you know, we’ve already had a dozen African-American presidents, so his race is completely unremarkable.

  68. It’s anti-American for a black man to express anger over the way he and his people have been treated for centuries in this country?

    Way to deliberately take what I wrote out of context. I did not call Wright’s words Anti-American I said they could be seen that way, and they were if you listened to the reaction people had. I was speaking about Obama’s comment that he never heard it.

    It’s kind of amazing to me that when these discussions come up, everyone seems to be solely focused on Obama’s gender and not his race and somehow think that his race was an asset.

    This doesn’t even make sense; first you accuse me of being racist. Then you attack me for not talking about his race. I could care less about his race. The one thing I have in common with the man is that I’m also biracial. However I have better things to do that go around with the delusion that the sole reason a person doesn’t like me is because of that fact.

  69. The one thing I have in common with the man is that I’m also biracial. However I have better things to do that go around with the delusion that the sole reason a person doesn’t like me is because of that fact.

    And in those two sentences, you just proved that being bi-racial does not necessarily mean you are immune to overlooking and otherwise being oblivious to racism that POC have to deal with on a daily basis, especially if your physical features allow for you to pass as White.

    This is further underscored due to your prior comments on the “Bookends” post where your extremely one-sided and historically uncontextualized criticism of Abraham Lincoln leads me to believe you harbor some pro-Confederate sympathies. You sure sounded like the Pro-Confederate online commenters and Southern undergrads I’ve met who pine for the “Lost Cause”.

  70. This is further underscored due to your prior comments on the “Bookends” post where your extremely one-sided and historically uncontextualized criticism of Abraham Lincoln leads me to believe you harbor some pro-Confederate sympathies. You sure sounded like the Pro-Confederate online commenters and Southern undergrads I’ve met who pine for the “Lost Cause”.

    Only because you interpret not liking Lincoln or Obama as equal to supporting slavery or the Confederacy, which I do not do. These are two people who I think are given credit for the work of other people. Here in Illinois people talk about Lincoln as though he somehow was the only person who thought any of it was wrong. Read some of the speeches he gave when he was campaigning to pro-south crowds. He spoke out of both sides of his mouth.

    Reality is that it was the nameless everyday people who truly put an end to slavery. there names may never get in a history book and maybe they never made speeches. They didn’t have to, they lived their beliefs by refusing to stand for injustice. If you can’t see that, that is you’re problem.

  71. He was one of the very very few, very very rare people in power who publically took a stand against the war.

    Until he started measuring for drapes in the Whitehouse.

  72. especially if your physical features allow for you to pass as White.

    Mine don’t.

    otherwise being oblivious to racism

    Except my dislike of Obama has nothing to do with his race. In fact I’m not the one who brings up his race. That would be you and all of the other supporters that can’t deal with the fact that some of us don’t think he is the right person for the job. So because you can’t deal with you have to call someone a racist. Calling someone a racist is obviously how you choose to win any disagreement.

  73. To be honest, I will vote for Obama because he best represents my political interests, but I also didn’t like him on a personal level. My main reason is this: Basically, based on interviews and articles about Michelle Obama, it just sticks in my craw that Obama’s super-awesome, hard-working, successful wife went from full-time to part-time to no-time employment, as she describes it, because of his ambitions. Didn’t she have ambitions? She basically describes a man who is no better than most at being egalitarian in household duties, and his political ambitions came before hers. He may talk about women’s rights and even vote them, but in his personal life he benefits from male privilege without doing his best to scrub himself of it.

    This same unwillingness to separate from privilege, by the way, is something that turned me off to Clinton — whether or not she knowingly fomented racism, she sure as hell benefited from it, and did nothing to call it out.

    I believe Obama is rather brilliant and has a certain canny insight that is very important. But at heart, I’m an empiricist — I believe that you learn through trial and error, conjecture and refutation. I just don’t think that Obama has had enough chances to learn from mistakes, although I do think he’ll be a quick study once he makes them. But I feel like our country is so fucked up right now, and that makes me wary of voting for someone who may make political mistakes early on. But, I’ll still vote for him because John McCain scares the shit out of me. And if McCAin wins I’m moving to Canada or India or some other place.

  74. Someone should teach Walker that there isn’t really such a thing as “reverse sexism.” Sexism means to discriminate on the basis of sex/gender. This discrimination isn’t one directional and whether the marginalized group is the subject of that discrimination or not, it’s still sexist, not “reverse” sexist…

    Just like discriminating people on the basis of their skin, whether the discrimination is focused on Whites or POC, it’s still racist, not “reverse racist”

  75. Pingback: anythings.org » Rebecca Walker calls Clinton supporters “reverse-sexists”

  76. I’m sorry, but where is Rebecca Walker’s feminist solidarity? Do you really think she is so much more superior than the women who voted for Clinton because she didn’t engage in “reverse-sexism?” For a woman who is striving to encourage empowerment of individuals across the lines of race, gender, etc, she really doesn’t think highly of her fellow women.

    She accuses women of voting for Clinton simply because of gender, but pens no response to the men who have voted for her, harking back to the stereotype that men are logical thinkers, and women are irrational and emotional. Why is it acceptable to call women out for voting for Clinton, but say nothing to the men who did? Were all women who voted for Clinton motivated by her gender, and the men motivated by her political views and campaign promises? If she’s going to continue playing such an immature game of blaming feminism for society’s problems, maybe she should make the jump and find a way to blame feminism for all the white men and women who voted for McCain, as well as all of the African Americans who were blinded by their race and voted for Obama.

    Rebecca Walker hates the feminist movement and she hates empowered women. She blames it for everything that was wrong with her childhood, and she blames it for her terrible relationship with her mother. Why not blame it for her ambivalence regarding motherhood, or the way women voted in 2008? One can only imagine what else she’ll find to blame feminism for. Higher clothing prices because we dare to demand non-sweatshop clothing? Global warming because feminism encouraged us to be the women we wanted to be, so we used aerosol hairspray and put a hole in the o-zone layer? Really, Rebecca, let it go.

    Hating the feminist movement from the inside does nothing to increase its effectiveness, no matter how you try to mask your hatred of other women and the movement.

  77. Pingback: Women's Space

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