In all fairness…
Tuesday, 4 March 2008 | 12:22
“Hillary Clinton has been handed the impossible task of representing All Women. It’s always the way. So few females are permitted to earn a place in the spotlight that when they do, they are rated as categories, not individuals.
So ingrained is this that I find myself doing it. If Clinton loses, it will look like a loss for all women, I think. I have no doubt that a President Barack Obama would do more good for women, simply because he isn’t comfortable with the status quo.
Nevertheless, if Clinton loses, it will grind in the truth of what I always say to skeptical audiences: Never underestimate how hated women are, including by women. The day Clinton loses is going to be one hell of a bad day for women, and for men who love them.
What I see is that a woman will be pilloried for her flaws, whether they’re massive or minute, painted in watercolours or sprayed in acrylic. That’s because women have no power, and therefore every individual woman is diminished.
Clinton is ridiculed for her hair, clothes, voice, appearance in a bathing suit, rigid courtesy toward Republican men she despises, mothering, talents as a lawyer, wifeliness, artifice, grit, hint of cleavage, useless fat brother, aging skin, debts to lobbyists, bowing to money, and endlessly on.
But no one mentions that McCain’s face is badly distorted from cancer removal. He’s a man. Masculinity is the gold standard. Women are interesting only in their deviation from the norm.”
-Heather Mallick, Stereotypes prevail, change still distant (excerpt), from CBC News.
