----- Original Message ----- From: "shag" <shag at cleandraws.com> To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org> Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2008 12:50 PM Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Structural sexism and Clinton (Was: Obama & the white guy)
> not that i disagree, but how is this *structural* sexism? this has to do
> with people's attitudes and ideas about who should run for president. it's
> sexist bigotry, sexist prejudice, etc. but i don't really see how this
> post illustrates structural sexist oppression.
>
>
>> This has been an extended discussion, and I haven't had the time to
>> follow
>> most of it, so maybe the issue I'm about to raise has already come up.
>>
>> Most of the comments have dealt with structural racism in the context of
>> the
>> Obama campaign. Has it been suggested that the stronger element to date
>> in
>> the Democratic primaries has been the "structural sexism" which has
>> damaged
>> Clinton? The WSJ article I posted yesterday shows there is a certain
>> cohort
>> of older white males who will never vote for a black man, but as I've
>> noted
>> previously, Obama's professional and mixed race background has, if
>> anything,
>> been an asset rather than a liability.
>>
>> Hillary's gender has not been an asset beyond her older female peers.
>> There
>> are other reasons for the hostility to her, but I think in Clinton's case
>> gender has figured more heavily than race has with Obama in shaping
>> voters'
>> perceptions, even though they are both of the same class and there are
>> only
>> nuances of political difference between them. Racial epithets may be have
>> been driven underground, but "witch" still seems to be an accepted part
>> of
>> the public discourse in attacking Clinton. Given the often savage
>> gleefulness surrounding her fall, I've become more persuaded than I once
>> was
>> of the sexism which has dogged her campaign.
>>
>> My wife, for example, asked me the other day to imagine that Barak was a
>> smart young freshman female Senator? Did I believe a similar groundswell
>> for
>> HER candidacy would have arisen at all layers of the Democratic Party and
>> beyond?
>>
>> Class backgrounds being equal, race hasn't prevented Obama from sprinting
>> to
>> the head of the pack; as a women, he would never have gotten out of the
>> starting blocks. Even a hip young WHITE female Senator, fresh out of the
>> Illinois state house, would have almost certainly ended up jostling with
>> Kucinich at the back of the pack. Unless, that is, she had powerful
>> family
>> or party connections, as a small number of other female leaders have had,
>> in
>> which case, like Clinton, she would have perhaps stood an outside chance
>> of
>> gaining power.
>>
>>
>> ___________________________________
>> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>>
>
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