Clinton is Bad for Feminism

[pbca]

Just pointing this out because someone had to. As the first female candidate to make it this far her antics, detachment from reality (Bosnia) and freakish unchecked ambition (RFK) have made her a laughing stock. This is the candidacy people will point to for comparison the next time a woman runs. The farther Hillary takes it the worse it gets. If she should, by some act of God, get the nomination and lose (very likely) people will say that Women are still unelectable if she somehow wins and runs the White House anything like she's run this campaign it will be a disastrous one term Presidency and it will be decades before another woman stands a chance.

I've frequently been called sexist for not supporting Hillary, but I think those who are encouraging her to keep going at this point are doing more damage to feminism and to the next female candidate (whoever she may be) than anyone.

[Raven]

1. Agree, fully. It's very sad. n/t

[Kittycat]

2. Agreed.

And the path that she's leading her supporters down, is a path that NO democrat should wonder on to.

[peace13]

3. You got it.

The one woman I knew to support Hill dropped her at 'Bosnia'. This was a woman voting for a woman, up until that point. Peace, Kim

[Writer]

4. Feminism has grown more conservative over the last 25 years.

After many younger women grew up in latchkey households, watching their single moms struggle, they decided to revert back to traditional roles, or at least curtail working outside the home to part-time, forgoing careers. Many religious women decided to adopt the traditional role for women staying at home primarily, taking submission pledges to their husbands. Some women in the workplace went completely in the opposite direction, taking on the workplace using their femininity as a weapon, pushing aside other women and adopting the female version of the successful, sexually liberated female - misandrous women who believe men are to be used to achieve opportunities in work, other competing women be damned.

Unfortunately the newer conservative form of feminism did little, if not actually exacerbated sexism in the workplace and elsewhere.

Hillary Clinton is an older form of feminism that does not comport with this development.

[Crunchy Frog]

5. She'll make all future female candidates look good by comparison.

[Bucky]

6. I'm sorry, but no.

Feminists haven't called you a sexist. Ill-mannered turds have called you a sexist. Clinton has done a lot for women in this country and there's a very good reason why millions of Democratic women have flocked to her to support her candidacy. I'd like to see a woman be elected president some day very soon. When that day happens--and it will--our first woman president will owe Hillary Clinton a debt of gratitude. Hillary broke the ice, or rather, she broke the glass ceiling.

Just by running and proving herself a viable candidate, Clinton has done much for women of today and for the future. Let's show her a little gratitude. Let's show a little class.

[pbca]

16. I don't agree

If she'd dropped out when the math said she couldn't win she would have broken the ice, instead she went negative in the extreme and now she's poisoning the well.

When people who don't pay attention to politics except during elections hear another woman is running this is the imagery that will come to mind, and they will be helped along by the news media. You know that the next time a woman runs they will dig out the best (worst) Hillary footage they can find - just for history's sake.

Showing class is one thing, but not mentioning that the boat is sinking because you don't want to upset the passengers is something else.

[Bucky]

17. Sure, she'd made mistakes; she's stuck around too long. I don't think that hurt feminism.

My sense of it is that people don't put Clinton's flaw off to her being a woman. They blame them on her being Hillary Clinton. Other women will run for high office and make their own triumphs & mistakes. But as far as I can see, there's not a general perception that women candidates "don't know when to quit." If anything, her refusal to give up the ghost has probably shattered any lingering myths about women not being fierce competitors. She's risen and sunk on her own merits, and now future women candidates will recieve the same consideration. You may not like her, but that doesn't mean she hasn't had a net positive effect.

Now quit making me say nice things about Hillary Clinton.

[NashVegas]

7. Hoo Boy

In your opinion:

What is feminism?


What is good for feminism?


What can a woman do to advance the cause of feminism AND run a successful campaign for POTUS?

[ellacott]

9. This is what Feminist Thinks

Hillary Clinton's candidacy has done feminism no favours

By Camille Paglia
Last Updated: 12:01pm BST 24/05/2008

<snip>
When the dust settles over the 2008 election, will Hillary Clinton have helped or hindered women's advance toward the US presidency?

Has Clinton hindered women’s advance towards the presidency?

Right now, Hillary is in Godzilla mode, refusing to accept Barack Obama's looming nomination and threatening to tie the Democratic party in legal knots until the August convention and beyond.

<snip>
Hillary has tried to have it both ways: to batten on her husband's nostalgic popularity while simultaneously claiming to be a victim of sexism.

Well, which is it? Are men convenient sugar daddies or condescending oppressors?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/05/24/do2411.xml

[NashVegas]

20. I Don't Care About Paglia - I'm Asking What the OP Writer Thinks

[Carolina]

21. ooo, that was good!

[Growler]

8. Exactly

nt

[Exilednight]

10. Hillary does not want to empower women, she wants them to follow her. Following is what feminism ..

is against.

[justinaforjustice]

11. Clinton is not a Feminist, She's an Egoist and Opportunist.

Clinton's campaign certainly doesn't help the cause of women's rights, and she has made a laughingstock of herself with her false claims that she is losing because of sexism, but I don't think her campaign will hurt the next woman who runs.

Just as Bush's presidency proves that anyone, no matter how dumb, can be president (if they have the support of the oil and defense industries), Clint's mismanaged, vicious campaign will be a good contrast to the next woman candidate. After Clinton, any rational, well-qualified woman will have a equal shot at the presidency.

Initially, Clinton had tremendous name recognition and financial support because of her husband's name, not because of her own hard work. The next woman will get there on her own. Clinton is opportunistically attempting to use the women's movement to fulfill her individual ambitions, not to improve the lives of all women.

If Clinton had cared about women's issues, she would have threatened to divorce Bill Clinton, not because of Monica Lewinsky, et. al., but because of his horrendous Welfare Reform Act. That Act took poor women away from their children and sent them to low paid jobs, while other poor, low paid women had to look after other poor people's children. Ridiculous and cruel to both the mothers and the children.

Where has Clinton been on women's reproductive rights? Very, very quiet.

Where has she been on the Iraq War, which is killing and maiming so many mothers' children? She voted to authorize it, as she has voted to set the stage for an attack on Iran. Why did she vote this way? Because she coveted the financial support of right wing AIPAC donors, not because of any principles she might hold. She got their money, but it cost her this election. Her real base, the wealthy donors, early gave her their maximum legal donations, and now Clinton is not only losing but her campaign is broke.

When a strong woman candidate comes along who really cares about the issues which affect women, we will know and we will vote for her wholeheartedly.

Obama is a more reliable feminist than Clinton is, that's why this sixty-something white female feminist is working to elect him.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

12. What A Crock Of Crap. She Has A Career Of Being On The Right Side Of Feminist Causes.

Spouted out shit like this is just so damn dumb.

[hendo]

13. intelligent feminists have been saying this for a long time

It is the bitter ones who still cling to her out of some misguided sense of feminism.

(kind of like those Pennsylvanians and their guns)

[Triana]

14. As a woman and feminist - I'm 100% agreed - she's brought shame to us and ...

... the cause. Done more damage than anything else.

[Arugula Latte]

15. Agreed. As a woman, I'm embarrassed by Hillary and many of her supporters who

keep screaming that she should be handed the nomination because it's a woman's turn.

[Sundoggy]

18. YES, right on the money...

and it burns me up no end, as a male feminist who has taken shit for it for FORTY YEARS, to be branded as "misogynistic" because I won't automatically vote for the female in the contest.

[pbca]

22. I understand

I have a wife and two daughters I adore, a female boss who I'd follow off a cliff if she was sure it was the way to go, I campaigned for Boxer in California, for Sebilius in Kansas (having lived both places) and for a number of female candidates at every level - and now I'm sexist because I won't support Hillary.

[Carolina]

19. completely agree

besides she was never the poster child for feminism since her alleged, vaunted experience and resume is derivative. Without Bill, she would not be where she is today.

To those who would say otherwise, recall (and it's part of their bios) that her friends thought she was crazy to FOLLOW him to Arkansas and they weren't married when she moved there. But she saw his star power (smarts, charisma... ) and hitched her wagon to it!

[CaptJasHook]

23. Not really, People will be so relieved to have a normal female they will

vote in droves to wash the taste of Hillary out of their mouths.

Hillary merely proves that women come in all types. She reminds me of Margaret Thatcher in many ways.

[HooptieWagon]

24. HRC is in bed with the corporations that maintain the glass ceiling

Corporatist first, feminist second. My young feminist friends think old dinosaur men-haters like HRC and her supporters are part of the problem, not the solution. They are more willing to ally with men who will support the cause (ie: Obama) than with women who set it back (HRC and Ferraro).