How Hillary's gender affects how we perceive her

[Cant trust em]

I came to this realization recently when my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. I already have a nephew with whom I wrestle, play pirates and bang on upturned trash cans for maximum volume. When little Grace was born I looked at her and she instantly became my little princess. A dainty little petunia that we had to protect and dote over. That's when the idea of gender identification hit me. It was to early for my niece to have formed personality traits of her own. I was projecting my ideas of what a litle girl should be on her and I didn't even know it.

It occured to me that Hillary Clinton might be going through some similar things of how voters see her. It is entirely possible that thousands of people all across the country will, to some degree, see her not as a political leader, but as a woman without having it even register. Some people will subconsciously see her as I wrote earlier a little princess. I would doubt that these people would answer a poll indicating that they aren't ready to vote for a female, but somehow those subconscious preconceptions might cloud their voting. They can't figure out what they don't like about her and it might be that she's a woman.

Some might try and make the same argument about Barack Obama, but I think that there are distinctions between the two. We have had such a long history of racism in this country that it racial problems have always been at the forefront of our consciousness. Obviously, they have been enslaved, lynched, forced to sit at the back of the bus and kept from using certain drinking fountains. None of these things have ever happened to women (at least white woman). The slavery they have paid has been in the kitchen, the laundry room and as classroom (we've almost forgotten that at one point being a teacher was women's work).

In short, african-americans have always been discriminated against overtly. Women have been discriminated against silently as we assign them roles as stay at home moms where we would seldom ask the same of fathers. It might be easier for people to overlook Barack Obamas blackness because it's right in front of their face. Hillary's discrimination is farther back.

[Mythsaje]

1. I'm warped. I'll admit it.

In my niece I deliberately fostered her tomboy traits, to always stick up for herself, even physically, if it came down to it. I have never bought into the argument that a woman should be a "lady," whatever the hell THAT is in today's society. If I had a daughter I would've taught her the same thing I'll teach my boys. Empathy and compassion are the core of what humanity is, but so is strength of purpose and belief in one's own abilities and worth. No MATTER what gender one is.

[Cant trust em]

4. Your post is why I think I'm onto something

The idea of trying to consciously turn my niece into a proper little lady never would have occurred to me. I wouldn't be buying her barbies or baby dolls. It is, of course, more important than she become a good person, not just a woman. Yet somehow those subconscious ideas must have crept in there somewhere. I'm glad that I've become aware of those unintended so I can now reject them. But I'm sure that most people aren't that aware of what is going on and will continue to foster those traditional roles. That's my point.

[FreakinDJ]

2. My discrimination is more important then your discrimination

You forgot the silent poor which have no voice in this at all

[Bucky]

3. What an interesting way of avoiding the fact that people might prefer Obama for substantive reasons

While a thoughtful analysis, the missing point here is that candidates don't run on genetic accidents, but on issue positions, political judgment, and their ability to lead the country. People who aren't favoring Clinton for the nomination aren't flawed souls blind to their own subconscious prejudices against a strong woman. They're citizens who have judged matters for themselves and want someone else to be president.

[Cant trust em]

5. sometimes yes and sometimes no

Do you really feel that people don't make decisions based on intangibles like speaking style, perceived warmth and trust? Whether we like it or not, factors like race and gender play into that. I'd love to live in a world where people didn't base decisions on whether or not they wanted to have a beer with their president.