What’s sexist about a Democratic Presidential Debate in which Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 6 male rivals and 2 male moderators focus half of the debate questions on the 1 woman?
Why in the male-dominated world would it appear sexist to witness 8 men pummel 1 woman?
Of the 17 GOP and Democratic presidential candidates deemed serious enough to be on the debate stage, 1 is a woman. Nothing sexist about that!
In more than 20 presidential debates, 6 women have participated as moderators compared to more than 30 men. Nothing sexist about that!
In this 231 year old democracy (sic) we have had a total of 1 woman who is a serious contender for the presidency. Nothing sexist about that!
In 2007, the Congress of this 'democracy' is 85 percent male. Since 1789, 2 percent of Congress members have been women. Nothing sexist about that!
I still can’t find one female political pundit who has her own television show. Nothing sexist about that!
The male-dominated media is furiously spreading the good old adolescent boy spin that Hillary is hiding behind her skirt or Little Miss Muffet says the men are picking on me. The media fully expect us to believe that the first woman to make it onto the stage with the men is the one who is 'playing the gender card.'
Studies have firmly established that women are perceived as ineffective when we are 'nice' and 'feminine,' and we are perceived as strident and abrasive (or castrating!) when we are assertive and perform as leaders. In other words, it is risky for Hillary to attack her rivals, and it is risky for her to stand there and smile.
If 25 of the 52 Philadelphia Debate’s questions were about the 1 woman, that’s because Hillary is the front-runner. Just look at the Republican debates and see how the men pummel front-runner Rudy Giuliani.
When we have had a presidential debate with 8 women and 1 lonely man on the stage, I’ll listen to complaints about the biased female gaze or the media-led outrage about a woman daring to play the gender card.
In the meantime, yeah, it looks like sexism.
[Graphic of Women in Congress via Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics]
Gender Card Hillary Clinton Sexism Democratic Male Dominated Media Feminist Politics Male Gaze Presidential Debate Philadelphia Gender News
