Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Which is worse?
The campaign pundon'ts are having at it (sort of): Which is worse: Racism or Sexism? And, since most of these pundon'ts are male, they have arrived at the answer: racism.
Their logic is that some of those who are raced are male, none of those who are male are affected by misogyny, I mean sexism.
In my humble opinion--both racism and sexism are untenable.
The pundon'ts need to pay attention though--51% of the population are female, and thus, the majority. This majority is getting pretty fed up with politics and business as usual misogyny.
As Bob Herbert pointed out in his column today "Politics and Misogyny" NYT 1/15/08 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/opinion/15herbert.html?_r=1" &hp&oref=slogin
misogyny is all around us--from pornography to violence against women to how women are treated and how women are protrayed in the media. It is "normal" to treat women as sexual objects, to belittle women, to treat women as unequals, to blame women and denigrate them if they are sexual, smart, professional, nice, good, competent, experienced (you get the picture). We see this in this campaign with the over scrutinization of Hillary's every move while giving all the male candidates passes--for instance, did Edwards not vote for the war?
Herbert said "If we’ve opened the door to the issue of sexism in the presidential campaign, then let’s have at it. It’s a big and important issue that deserves much more than lip service. "
I say, naming the problem is the first step to change, keep pointing out the sexism (and the racism) so that it misogyny is no longer acceptable. I am mad as hell, and am not going to take anymore!
How about you? And, this includes men, too--you have mothers, friends who are female, some have wives and daughters.
Call people on their sexism and racism.
Their logic is that some of those who are raced are male, none of those who are male are affected by misogyny, I mean sexism.
In my humble opinion--both racism and sexism are untenable.
The pundon'ts need to pay attention though--51% of the population are female, and thus, the majority. This majority is getting pretty fed up with politics and business as usual misogyny.
As Bob Herbert pointed out in his column today "Politics and Misogyny" NYT 1/15/08 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/opinion/15herbert.html?_r=1" &hp&oref=slogin
misogyny is all around us--from pornography to violence against women to how women are treated and how women are protrayed in the media. It is "normal" to treat women as sexual objects, to belittle women, to treat women as unequals, to blame women and denigrate them if they are sexual, smart, professional, nice, good, competent, experienced (you get the picture). We see this in this campaign with the over scrutinization of Hillary's every move while giving all the male candidates passes--for instance, did Edwards not vote for the war?
Herbert said "If we’ve opened the door to the issue of sexism in the presidential campaign, then let’s have at it. It’s a big and important issue that deserves much more than lip service. "
I say, naming the problem is the first step to change, keep pointing out the sexism (and the racism) so that it misogyny is no longer acceptable. I am mad as hell, and am not going to take anymore!
How about you? And, this includes men, too--you have mothers, friends who are female, some have wives and daughters.
Call people on their sexism and racism.
Labels: misogyny, politics, racism, sexism
