The timeless fear of women's advancement is all wrapped up in the package of hating Hillary Rodham Clinton. Women who challenge the prevailing gender norms are always despised and ridiculed. This particular graphic of a masculine Hillary Rodham Clinton as Uncle Sam reminds me of a caricature of another hated woman, Susan B. Anthony.
The one of Anthony as Uncle Sam is from 1873, during Anthony's trial for the crime of voting while female. From the whining about Hillary's pant suits, to the complaints about her 'thick' ankles to the Hillary nutcrackers with steel thighs now sold in an airport near you, the vicious misogyny aimed at all women who insist on breaking through glass ceilings is really all about keeping women in our place.
And for most of us it works, at least until a feminist trailblazer comes along and clears the path. I would never ever willingly subject myself or my daughters to the vicious misogyny heaped on to feminist trailblazers like Susan B. Anthony and Hillary Rodham Clinton.
But that doesn't mean I'm clueless enough to fail to honor and support and defend the women who take it for all of us.
[Graphic: "The Feminization of America." Weekly Standard, Dec. 23, 1996.]
Hillary Clinton Super Tuesday Sexist Democratic Primary Feminist Politics Susan B. Anthony Glass Ceilings Misogyny Patriarchy News Masculine Women Feminization of America
