Women’s Greatest Enemy in the Upcoming 2020 Primaries is the Media
It’s been a monumental year for women in the political arena; there were more women elected into the House of Representatives than ever before, and now, there are a record number of six women running for president. Yeah, that’s right! Say it louder for the people in the back!!! Although these badass women are making leaps and bounds as far as smashing the patriarchy goes, we still have a long way to go with ending sexism on the political front. Can you even count the number of female candidates that have been criticized because of their looks instead of their political agendas or views on foreign policy? Yeah, neither can we. But do we have any examples, you ask? Oh, you bet we do.
Remember Sarah Palin? If not, we’ll give you a little refresher. Palin was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee running alongside presidential nominee, John McCain. In a 2009 edition of Newsweek, the cover featured a photo of Palin posing in a tight, red quarter zip and black shorts with her legs exposed. Basically, an outfit that is COMPLETELY appropriate for running, but definitely not for a vice-presidential nominee. Palin took this photo originally for Runner’s World magazine, but Newsweek used it to sexualise and discredit Palin. In a 2011 article for the Washington Post, writer Jonathan Capehart even had the AUDACITY to say, “Folks want to be able to envision someone sitting in the Oval Office. They don’t necessarily want to envision them in the pages of Esquire magazine’s ‘Sexiest Women Alive 2011’ or Maxim.” But wait, it gets worse! He goes on to say, “She [Palin] can’t possibly be taken seriously as a presidential contender dressed like that.” But don’t worry!! Capehart later acknowledged three whole years later, in 2014, that what he said was a smidge sexist and rude, which totttallly makes up for blatant sexism and misogyny, right? RIGHT?
In contrast to comments about Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton was described as a “bitch” and a “nasty woman.” Wow, our current president has such a way with words, doesn’t he? During the 2016 election, there was merchandise sold outside of the Republican National Convention which included some lovely shirts with misonginstic and frankly disgusting slogans such as “TRUMP THAT BITCH” and “HILLARY SUCKS BUT NOT LIKE MONICA”. Pins were sold as well, with equally awful phrases like “KFC HILLARY SPECIAL. 2 FAT THIGHS. 2 SMALL BREASTS… LEFT WING”. And people STILL say sexism isn’t real?!?!?!
In case you were wondering, the media insults women on other things besides their looks. Hooray! In an interview with Nancy Pelosi in the documentary Miss Representation, directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Pelosi mentions that when she first ran for public office, the question that she was most often asked was “Who’s going to take care of your children,” even though her youngest child was a senior in high school. Do we really think that Pelosi would have been asked that same question if she were a man running for public office? Yeah, didn’t think so.
As if we’ve learned nothing from the past, current female presidential candidates are already facing sexism in the media. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota state senator, has recently been seen in the news cycle a lot, not because of any of her initiatives or policies, but because apparently she’s a bitchy boss. While the accusations may be perfectly true, we can’t help but wonder if people are only talking about this because the society loves to label a woman who’s passionate as “hysterical”, or a woman who’s a little tough on her employees, a bitch. Still, we can’t forget Klobuchar’s salad comb incident.
Much of government today is still a man’s world, and until the media stops targeting women––because people love hearing stereotypical stories about bitchy women “who must be on their period”––it’s going to stay that way.