SALEM, N.H. — Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was about to deliver a line that has become a centerpiece of her campaign since her loss in Iowa.
“Everybody in this race is talking about change. But what does that mean?”
“Iron my shirt!” yelled a man, who stood up in the middle of a jammed and stuffy auditorium at a high school in Salem, N.H., and held up a yellow sign with the same text. He repeated it over and over.
Mrs. Clinton asked for the lights to be turned on, and the shirt man was removed along with another man who had stood up too.
“Oh, the remnants of sexism are alive and well,” Mrs. Clinton said.
When everyone had settled down a bit, she said, “As I think has just been abundantly demonstrated, I am also running to break through the highest and hardest glass ceiling.”
Her words were drowned out by a cheering, now-standing crowd.
“That’s one of the things I love about it,” she said. “It’s never predictable.”
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Melissa McEwan has amassed quite a collection of misogynist attacks against Hillary. Frankly, it seems that plenty of people don’t like her simply because she’s a woman. Few will come out and say it—instead, they say its because she’s a Clinton or she grates on them, whatever. She is right, this is the highest and hardest glass ceiling—in a country that touts itself as the most advanced in the world. Plenty of other countries have elected women leaders, why haven’t we? Why is there still so much sexism lying just—-and I mean just—under the surface?
Linda wrote about the Democratic contenders the other day. Ever the one to put together interesting posts, she included a bit about Shirley Chisholm, a black woman who ran for president in 1972. Here are some Chisholm quotes:
Of my two “handicaps” being female put more obstacles in my path than being black.
I’ve always met more discrimination being a woman than being black.
The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says: It’s a girl.
1972. 2008. A lot has changed. Or has it?
6 Comments
14 February, 2008 at 9:10 pm
thanks for the link love! and I love your dog…what a cutie!
15 February, 2008 at 11:19 am
Linda, Thank YOU! Isabel is such a joy—we both feel really blessed that she is in our lives!
15 February, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Thanks for the links. Too many anti-feminine people out there, sometimes not even aware of their attitudes. Others are “perfectly” aware!
17 February, 2008 at 8:26 am
Came over from Die De Diem where I found the link to your post above. I knew very little about Shirley Chisholm but I am thankful for her attempts to enlighten and change this country. I know in my gut that Senator Clinton would indeed make a fine president and she is the one I will be voting for and talking up regardless of who gets teh nomination.
17 February, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Jan, Yeah, even women are often sexist!
Catherine, I am absolutely certain that she has the intelligence, skills and experience to be a great president. Her politics are too conservative for my taste, but that’s where we are in this country right now.
17 February, 2008 at 6:04 pm
thank you for this. There are some things about Hillary I’m not wild about, but I agree that many of the attacks are really misogynist “in disguise.”
I’m mostly concerned about the country being passed between the Bush family and the Clinton family and thinking that this is not the healthiest sign for our democracy.
But I’ve read some of the terrible, wildly hateful things written about her…I look a look at a book written by a former right-wing hatchet man. He said he was supposed to slime her, but he did the research and he couldn’t do it.
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