Obama-Clinton and McCain-Palin, If Only
Oct 22nd, 2008 by admin
Now THAT would have been a Presidential race. Oh, the debates we might have had! With, I’m betting, far fewer displays of misogyny and sexism.
But no. Of the four candidates, the one woman, Palin, is connected with the least favored of the three male candidates and is therefore without the (patriarchally prescribed) protections she might have had had she been connected with the most highly favored man. Since she is the only woman of the four, and since she has been viciously targeted as a woman, she has become the one to frame the discussions so far as issues around sexism and women’s rights. Had Clinton been Obama’s choice, the feminism of each candidate and the commitment to women’s rights of each would have been front and center, on the table and up for discussion, debate, comparison. The framing of issues around women’s rights would be continually under negotiation. In all likelihood, there would be far fewer displays of sexism, if only because each party would be determined to demonstrate it was less sexist than the other.
As it is the lone woman at the bottom of the hierarchy of male candidates must continually challenge a barrage of misogynist attacks from all corners alone, with the result that her ultimately conservative framings of women’s issues increasingly possess an apparently feminist patina. And, so many feminists have joined in those misogynist attacks, they no longer have any credibility with which to dull it.
What a tragedy, in so many ways, the 2008 election really is for women.
Heart
