The sexist double standards hurting Hillary Clinton

[BlueMTexpat]

Much of Hillary Clinton’s difficulty in this campaign stems from a single, unalterable fact: She is a woman.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-sexist-double-standards-hurting-hillary-clinton/2016/02/12/fb551e38-d195-11e5-abc9-ea152f0b9561_story.html

I am not a Dana Milbank fan. But his take in this Op-Ed is spot on, IMO. Even a stopped clock ...

At a Clinton rally last week in New Hampshire, I discussed the decibel dilemma with Jay Newton-Small of Time magazine. “It’s very hard for a woman to telegraph passion,” she explained. “When Bernie yells, it shows his dedication to the cause. When she yells, it’s interpreted in a very different way: She’s yelling at you.”

That’s not about Clinton; it’s about us. “It is a subtle kind of sexism that exists that we don’t recognize,” said Newton-Small, who literally wrote the book on the matter. “Broad Influence: How Women Are Changing the Way America Works,” out last month, includes a chapter on Clinton. “When women raise their voices, people tend to get their hackles up. People I talk to at Clinton events put her in a maternal role: Why is she screaming at me? Am I in trouble?”

Campaigning While Female also deprives Clinton of the ability to make lofty promises. Sanders, for example, has a $15 trillion non-starter of a health-care plan. If Clinton floated such a plan, the media would mock it as patently absurd. But Sanders gets a pass.

Why the double standard? “Men are the guys who want to go out and buy the motorcycle, and women are the purse-string holders,” Newton-Small said. “It’s a very traditional role we are putting women into by making them the one saying, no, we can’t do all these really fun things. This is a very stereotypical box she gets put into, which then makes it very hard for her to be inspirational.”

This is the essence of Clinton’s trouble: If she can’t plausibly offer pie in the sky, and she can’t raise her voice, how does she inspire people? This hurts particularly with young voters — the same segment that shunned Clinton in 2008.

More at the link.

[mcar]

1. Milbank gets it right this time

[BlueMTexpat]

2. She literally can do

no right for some. But Santa Claus can continue to promise the moon, sun and stars.

Imagine if Hillary did or said ANYTHING like the GOPer candidates - who ALL get a pass!

[mcar]

4. They do get a pass

I'm sure some of it is that these are the actual GOP candidates so the media has to take them seriously to some extent. What frustrates me to no end is that the media never, ever challenges these dopes about their lies. Never uses past statements against them. It's lazy, shoddy journalism.

They should all be forced to watch "Spotlight" again and again until they figure out true journalism.

[BlueMTexpat]

6. I absolutely agree.

[mgmaggiemg]

3. it's ok for women to yell

it's really important to get the message out so thanks for bringing up the topic...in a political environment where women are hated and invisible...(ironic and true) no one panders to women as a demographic because they don't think they are important....that's why it's important to get the message out....that if we aren't for ourselves no one will be for us

[BlueMTexpat]

5. I agree with that ... but

the point the writer makes is that when Hillary does it - or when any woman candidate does - she is then perceived differently.

From the link:

The criticism is the same as in 2008: She doesn’t connect. She isn’t likeable. She doesn’t inspire. She seems shrill. “She shouts,” Bob Woodward said on MSNBC this month, also suggesting she “get off this screaming stuff.”

Joe Scarborough, the host, agreed: “Has nobody told her that the microphone works?”

At that, Clinton supporters hollered — about the double standard that condemns her but not Sanders, who bellows at the top of his lungs. The episode was part of a constant stream of commentators (generally men) taking issue with Clinton’s demeanor and conduct — “She’s got to become herself,” David Gergen advised on CNN before Thursday night’s debate — in a way they don’t do with Sanders.

[mgmaggiemg]

7. there was no shouting from HRC

in debate the other night infact Bernie came across as cranky and cross in comparison...I just wanted to get him some slippers put him in a lazyboy and get him some warm milk so he could calm down a little...

[BlueMTexpat]

8. As someone who knows firsthand about

hypertension, I worried that he might be overdoing things - either that or he has one bad sunburn.

And Hillary's speech and demeanor were excellent, IMO.

[mgmaggiemg]

9. agree ;)