Tuesday’s election results were a huge win for women…so why the sour grapes?
With the Dems taking control of the house, Nancy Pelosi is set to become the first female Speaker of the House—the closest a woman has ever come to the Oval Office. Hillary is frigging everywhere, with rumors of a presidential run. Claire McCaskill and Amy Klobuchar’s wins put women’s representation in the Senate to 16—an all-time high. The list of wins for women goes on and on.
Clearly, American voters are taking women politicians seriously. Too bad everyone can’t do the same. Some men have been coming out to describe their displeasure with women’s wins in what can only be described as a “girls are icky� line of argument (whining).
Echidne points to a report from Media Matters; during MSNBC's election coverage, Chris Matthews said that that Senator Clinton gave a "barn-burner speech, which is harder to give for a woman; it can grate on some men when they listen to it -- fingernails on a blackboard."
He also said that Pelosi will "have to do the good fight with the president over issues" and asked: "How does she do it without screaming? How does she do it without becoming grating?"
Nothing like the sound of an uppity woman, huh Chris?
Dennis Miller’s appearance on Hannity & Colmes may take the cake though. Miller rambled off a list of reasons why Pelosi would be a terrible Speaker of the House, most of which could have been summed up with, “But she has a vagina!�
My favorites:
"To think that a C-minus, D-plus applicant like this, who no doubt would have been drummed out of the Mary Kay corps after an initial four-week evaluation period, might have a seat at the table of true powers, the speaker of the House, is absolutely insane.�"Every time I see Pelosi in her little Chanel suits — a latter day “Wacky O� — regurgitating the Democratic talking points that she had to learn phonetically because the word “grasp� is not even vaguely in her vocabulary, I shake my head so badly you could blend paint colors in my mouth.�
(Amanda has a great rundown of the whole appearance with sexist screen shots and all.)
Then of course, the latest dig came from President Bush himself, who in speaking of Pelosi said "in my first act of bipartisan outreach since the election, I shared with her the names of some Republican interior decorators who can help her pick out the new drapes in her new offices."
Mary Kay, Chanel, and drapes—yup, that about covers what the lady politicians are into.
Of course, taking sexist swipes at women is nothing new. But it seems that the higher in political rank women climb, the bigger babies some men become. So grow up, boys. We’re not going anywhere.
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thanks for making these great points, jessica. i also didn't see the need for this fashion piece in today's WAPO:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/09/AR2006110901521.html
gag.
After reading the WaPo article, it just seems like Robin Givhan is tingling with delight over the fact that she has some decent clothing to look at when she writes about the Speaker.
Chris Matthews should work on making himself sound less grating, and back off. Dennis Miller doesn't even exist in my world - he's too much of a fool.
Great post, Jessica. prairielily is right: no one could be more grating than Chris Matthews, who is a spin-obsessed moron with a voice that sounds like weasel being strangled. Dennis Miller's career has just been one long train-wreck, each act somehow worse than the previous (Monday Night Football, anyone? "Varsity Panel"?). What's amazing is how he clings to the belief that he's anything other than a complete imbecile. He and Fox News deserve each other.
Meanwhile, Pelosi shouldn't worry about being "grating." If there is some taboo about women politicians speaking their mind, let her explode it, and people can stop talking about it. Except effwits who, yes, are essentially worried because girls have cooties. Or are afraid of getting beat up by a girl.
It's the condescending attitude with which Chris Matthews and the President treat women, in general, and women's anger that I can't stand by and let go uncorrected.
The righteous anger of these women seems to be portrayed by these nethandethals, as an irrational "stomping-your little-foot-against-the-things- you-don't-like" action by these women, and with which women tend to get tarred with to minimize them.
Yet, of all the people who have a "reality-based" view of the world, it should be women like Pelosi, and not people like Matthews, or the President, who signed onto the idea that they could change the world through utopian violence and by making enemies of the world.
Jessica nails it when she writes, "But it seems that the higher in political rank women climb, the bigger babies some men become".
Yes, the fragility of these politician's masculinity is frightening to see, given how much time and effort they've put into using the military as a signature pieces for their identities.
As much as I agree with everything that's been said here up to this point, I think you're missing the most important issue here. Personally, I got my wake up call in the form of the general reaction to the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas brouhaha. A frighteningly large chunk of the population in this country is still locked into traditional gender roles, and the scariest thing about it is that it's not just men. All too many women, too, have a real problem with women wielding any kind of strength or power (including, of course, any kind of self-assertion, such as displays of anger, etc.) The question we need to ask is, do we just continue to address this indirectly by supporting powerful women, or is there some effective way to address it directly by confronting people like Chris Matthews (and, ironically enough, Phyllis Schlafly and Beverly LaHaye.) Confrontation frequently provokes backlash, usually including terms like 'Political Correctness,' bitch, or, in some quarters, feminazi. I suspect more damage is done, however, by letting comments like Matthews' stand. People didn't stop using the word 'nigger' until it got to the point that they couldn't get away with it. I suspect it will take a concerted effort to create consequences for these kinds of attitudes before we see much progress. For example, a website based on the model of Media Matters that specifically tracks this issue and organizes (or at least encourages) large scale responses by publishing contact information for offending parties. Or maybe something could be worked out in concert with Media Matters(of course this would mark the true death of irony, given David Brock's body of writing on the subject of Anita Hill.)
The fragility of these politician's masculinity is frightening to see, given how much time and effort they've put into using the military as a signature pieces for their identities.
A frighteningly large chunk of the population in this country is still locked into traditional gender roles, and the scariest thing about it is that it's not just men.
Traditional masculinity is fragile because it's mostly based on what's not feminine. New masculinity will be based on inclusivity and social justice.
My sense is that your complaint stems more from partisanship than gender bias. Substitute Katherine Harris' name in Miller's rant, and no one would say a word. Try it:
"Every time I see [Harris] in her little Chanel suits — a latter day “Wacky O� — regurgitating the [Republican] talking points that she had to learn phonetically because the word “grasp� is not even vaguely in her vocabulary, I shake my head so badly you could blend paint colors in my mouth.�
My last comment may be overparsing. Lest there be any confusion, I have a problem with Miller's comment.
ckreiz...actually, no. sexist tripe is sexist tripe, whether it's directed at harris or pelosi.
The folks over at Rhetorical Situation have a really provocative cartoon under analysis that you might find interesting.
Thanks, Jessica- I think so too.
Over at the SmirkingChimp, I'm already seeing so-called lefties put down Pelosi and put her in a bin with Hillary and Rice. All women are the same, I guess.
I thought we got rid of sexism when we ousted the republican party. Guess I was wrong. Now we have to put up with this crap from leftie blogs. The tent is getting smaller, I'm thinking.
I have never defended Chris Matthews before, and hope I don't in the future. He's an analyst, and I think what he was trying to do was point out that there is a real problem in America (and elsewhere) that male politicians can be forceful, and the token women politicians have to be meek.
Besides, I'd rather have a conciliatory (in politics, "weak") president than a war-monger any day. Why is being forceful good, anyway?
Oh yeah, and Dennis Miller is an all around jackass right-wing smear man, so what do you expect, especially on Hannity and Colmes?