Painting Wendy Davis as a bad mother is political sexism at its worst

[n2doc]

Jessica Luther

Here we go again: sexist tropes being used against a high-profile female political candidate.

A recent article in the Dallas Morning News by the paper's senior political writer Wayne Slater purported to correct the biography of Wendy Davis, the democratic candidate for Texas governor. Davis made headlines last summer for her pink-tennis-shoe wearing filibuster against a severely restrictive anti-abortion bill. In his piece, Slater charged that he was telling a fuller version of Davis' life story because "some facts have been blurred" in the version she and her campaign have been telling.

Davis has portrayed herself as a tough single mother who made it through Harvard Law School and went from living in a trailer park to working her way up to a Texas state senate seat. Since Slater's article was published last weekend, conservative media has jumped on it as evidence that Davis is not the (American) dream candidate.

Most of the attacks against Davis are sexist. As a columnist for Breibart.com tweeted: "Wendy Davis: My story of attending Harvard Law on my husband's dime while he took care of the kids is a story every woman can relate to." Talking Points Memo has a plethora of examples of the full-force sexist attacks. And Twitter exploded earlier this week with the #MoreFakeThanWendyDavis hashtag, making fun of Davis for being a liar.

The problem is that the Dallas Morning News article that caused this backlash is questionable at best, and is undeniably sexist in its telling of Davis' story. Slater implies that Davis was a negligent mother in order to pursue her education and political career, and that she used her husband for his money. He quotes an "anonymous source" that claims that "Wendy [Davis] is tremendously ambitious. She's not going to let family or raising children or anything else to get in her way."

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http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/26/wendy-davis-dallas-morning-news-inadequate-mother-false

[jsr]

1. It's straight out of Karl Rove's playbook

specifically, the Ann Richards chapter.

[blkmusclmachine]

25. Swiftboating.

[okaawhatever]

2. She stayed married for at least 12 years after she graduated from Harvard and began working. Men, we

need you on this one. They're insulting both Wendy and her husband here. I guess the underlying message is a man shouldn't help his wife finish her education. She also dated him for a couple of years before getting married to him. That's a pretty big gold-digger fail if I ever saw one. Married almost 20 years, 18 I think. How sad is this discussion the right wing media is putting out there?

[AtheistCrusader]

11. It's not going to work.

Well, I don't live in Texas, but these smears are completely unimpressive. I'll be shocked if it buys them anything at all, vote-wise.

[madmom]

3. Yep, and there's no man out there anywhere who went

to school to further his career while the little woman worked and took care of the kids.

[bettyellen]

4. And everyone loves Wendy D. On DU....

Just not enough to care about these sexist attacks

[1000words]

5. She's gotten under their skins, for sure.

Being a veteran of Texas good 'ol boy politics, Ms. Davis can take care of herself.

[davidpdx]

6. As soon as I get my first check from my new job, I'm going to make a donation

Things are really tight now, but in the spring they will be better. I really want to see her win.

[okaawhatever]

14. That's so awesome. I've sent money and will send more. Texas is important for other reasons, like

the 2016 election. Even if she just vetoes enough voter suppression bills to keep the 2016 election fair in Texas it will be worth it.

[Cha]

7. gopropaganda machine grinding its gears

in well worn rut.

Fuck 'em if they can't handle reality.

[Lunacee_2013]

8. My dad and I were talking about Wendy Davis last week.

We BOTH cannot wait t vote for her. He thinks that the Texas GOP will end up pissing off women voters soooo much that even republican women will vote democratic. I hope he is right.

[Rstrstx]

21. You may be onto something

All those suburban women who usually vote Republican may have a change of heart this time if they keep insinuating aspiring women should have stayed at home in their proper place.

I'm not familiar with this Slater clown but it did seem like the piece was approaching a hit job. Where the hell is the dirty laundry on Abbott? Not in the newspapers evidently.

All this should be in relative vain, however - it's early in the campaign and unless the Abbott camp keeps harping on it it'll go away (if they keep bringing it up the more they risk the soccer mom backlash).

[Skittles]

35. I agree with you and your dad

I cannot remember a time when I looked forward to voting SO much

[Major Nikon]

9. None of Saint Ronnie's kids could stand him

If the gender roles were reversed with Davis, nobody would be talking about it.

[Jakes Progress]

10. So you are saying its republicans acting like republicans?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

12. I guess their claim is, "Behind every successful woman is a man she screwed over"....

Way to get the female vote!

[okaawhatever]

15. lulz. Great analysis. They're also slamming her ex-husband in this and I hope reasonable men will

see that. Her ex did what was right for the family economically and for his daughters. We should be celebrating a man who encouraged his wife's success and helped create a good female role model for his daughters. They were married for almost 20 years for goodness sake. I think he's smart enough to have figured out if she was only in it for the money during that time.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

16. I'm waiting for them to offer him money to trash her.

[nil desperandum]

30. REASONABLE MEN

Agreed, it's interesting to me because her ex said this:

<i>The report also states that when Wendy Davis was accepted into Harvard Law School, her husband Jeff cashed in his 401(k) account and eventually took out a loan to pay for her final year there.

“I was making really good money then, well over six figures,” Jeff Davis said. “But when you’ve got someone at Harvard, you’ve got bills to pay, you’ve got two small kids. The economy itself was marginal. You do what you have to do, no big deal.” </i>

Sounds reasonable to me, they seem like a regular couple who found they weren't going to stay married as they grew older and things in their lives changed....when you can't debate on your stance on the issues you have to attack the other side on more nebulous terms with things like "bad mom" or my personal favorite "class warfare" because they hope those things will resonate with their core....what they don't realize is that those things also resonate in a far different way with the so-called moderates in their own party. The people who realize that attending school while your kids are small is no easy thing and it makes some of us feel guilty because we spent time studying to make a better life instead of spending that time with our young children. But it doesn't make you a bad parent, it makes you someone trying to get a better outcome long term so sacrifice in the short term is necessary.

I hope this bites them in the buttocks hard and that Ms. Davis reaps the benefit.

[okaawhatever]

32. Absolutely. My mom went to college after she had kids. It was a compromise. Less time for us then

but more time for us in the future. My Dad encouraged her, that's what reasonable people do.

Another thing the Davis bashers keep saying is that her husband took out the loans for her education. No, they both did. It sickens me that the Republicans are treating his income as his, his debts as both of theirs, and her income as non-existent. They claim "she left him after he made the last payment on the loans." (she left him 12 years after she graduated and went to work). So in their bizzaro world they were both working and earning a good living, but he made the payments and her income went off into magical fairy land. They also claim that her husband started a title company. In some articles they mention she was a co-owner. Since they were both attorneys, didn't that mean they both started the company? I guess in Republican bizarro world when two people start a company and are both co-owners the man started it and the woman went along for the ride....

[nil desperandum]

34. when she left him

It does appear she left in 2003 which was when they paid off the 10 year term loan, but so what?

Since we are not a party to the dissolution of their marriage they might have decided it was best to resolve outstanding debt prior to heading into court so it would not be left to lawyers and judges to resolve.

From what I read they both seem like decent, reasonable people. Sometimes decent reasonable people can divorce and make decent reasonable decisions prior to court.

What irritates me constantly is the assumption that only men count in these relationships when the evidence is clearly contrary. Both husband and wife appear to have been involved in child raising and in making sure that mom was educated where she wanted to be. Considering your wife's needs and your children's needs and making decision together on finances seems like exactly the kind of "family values" I want in a candidate whether male or female. Women and men of character should be disgusted by this type of politicking and it speaks directly to the type of people she is running against. When you can't smear the message, smear the messenger...screw the republicans I hope they get pounded for this type of campaign theme.

[Blue_Tires]

13. So clearly Davis is pissing off all the right people, then

[NastyRiffraff]

17. Pissing off? They're scared shitless

You don't go on attacks like this on people you don't fear.

[Skittles]

20. CORRECT

[uponit7771]

23. +1....The lt gov scares the just as much

[heaven05]

18. threatened by women, blacks and gays.

what next RW dipsh..?

[mdbl]

19. Really now, does anyone expect anything less of Texas

It's a cesspool of bigotry, religious idiocy and greedy corporations. That combination makes it lethal to humanity.

[Rstrstx]

22. Sigh, really? Could you be just a LITTLE more sanctimonious?

Do you really expect anything constructive to come out of comments like that?

[mdbl]

24. You're right

There's probably a few that don't deserve that. Just everyone running their govt and churches. Oh wait, is there a difference between the two?

[okaawhatever]

33. Yes, Texas' major cities are run by Democrats. In Texas most larger cities don't put the

party affiliation on the ballot. Houston and Austin are both run by Democrats. I'm not sure about the other cities, but once again Texas is a case of the good places being run by Dems and the rural areas being run by Republicans.

[GreenEyedLefty]

26. ... and this is why I could never run for office. nt

[davidn3600]

27. It's why a lot of good people don't run

[Gothmog]

28. This is going to be a nasty campaign

Greg Abbott is a nasty person and the GOP is scared of Wendy Davis

[spanone]

29. that's what they do. they painted war hero John Kerry as a traitor....

they are shameless in their hatred

[FarCenter]

31. The more typical story is the woman that puts hubby through medical school, then gets dumped.