Sexism in Politics: Yes, it exists.

From my perspective, (as a woman) I view candidates in a different view than a man would. On average, voters are broken up into two brackets that break into two more brackets. Republican or Democrat? Man or Woman?

In the past decade, we have seen so many women running for office (be it Vice President or President). Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and Michele Bachmann come to the forefront of most peoples minds. Regardless of political interests, they are all tough, out-spoken, and goal-oriented women.
Democratic or Republican however, they share one important commonality: they faced harsh criticism from men.

All three of these women have been continuously shot down because of their gender. Men have called them unqualified (the biggest lie of the century, mind you), ugly, stupid, and incapable as well as a few expletives. In the 2008 election, we saw Sarah Palin mocked for her looks, and the way she spoke. We also saw extreme criticism from many people because of the fact the Mrs.Palin decided to keep her baby boy even when she found out he was going to be born with down-syndrome. Many women and men alike called her stupid because she didn't abort her baby.*
(* If Sarah Palin did abort her baby at the time the criticism came, it would have been illegal)

This year, at the Republican Debate in Iowa, we saw completely sexist questions asked to Mrs.Bachmann. While I do not believe political sexism is single-political party, sexism was definitely at the fore front of the debate (hosted by Fox News). Michele was asked (generally) if she was submissive to her husband because of her religion. An aweful question to ask. A question that was meant to personally insult her, and diminish her authenticity as a candidate, and as a woman. She handled it well, stating that submissive meant 'respect' to her.

I can't help but wonder....why was this question asked? Would this question EVER be asked to a man?

There is so much sexism in politics, its actually disgusting. We become so obsessed with women candidates looks, that we ignore their rhetoric, their values, and their ideas. We have turned (now three) candidates, into pop culture jokes. Men in particular, seem to enjoy diminishing women campaigns, claiming that women are incapable of winning an election let a lone holding office. I honestly cannot wait to see a woman in office.

As long as the candidate is admirable, has strong values and ideas, what should be the problem with electing them? As a woman, I admit I do look at what the women wear and study it almost religiously...but I think people think I do it for all the wrong reasons. I am not looking at what the women wear to try and tear them down, but to learn from them. If women are not allowed to play in the same ball park that men do, then younger women need to learn to play the game from women who are playing right now.
Clothing wise, women are almost always criticized, like they can't even dress right. Now a days, we see women who wear...well nothing. When a woman dresses in a way that tells men they are a superior gender, we halt progression. It's all about equality yet uniqueness.

So I look at what our candidates are wearing, in admiration. I give women candidates so much credit, because there are a million more obstacles that a woman must pass, than a man does. We are attacked for our looks, our age, our relationships with people, our parenting skills, the way our children look, and men are not attacked for any of that. ( I did not include moral values, or religious/ethnic heritage because somehow attacks on that subject are usually equal.)

All I ask, is that women candidates be taken seriously. Stop giving women the dumbest and worst questions at the debates. Stop attacking their appearance, and most importantly: stop ignoring their voices.
Women have voices. It is their voice that carried them to their election campaign. It is their voice that gave them their respectful jobs. They are powerful, and men must realize that. Instead of attacking women in fear, why can't opponents embrace the difference and fight with dignity?

In the end, it is up to both men and women to do their part to end sexism everywhere. We have done a pretty aweful job of raising this generations view of women, but there is still time to change it.

Until next time,
Kat

PS: I promise to stop writing women-oriented blogs! Next time I will address either illegal immigration or the economy. Let me know what you think!

August 9th

First off, welcome to my blog. The goal is to simple educate people on things happening in the government. I will try INCREDIBLY hard to not be biased, and for that matter I will not be disclosing my political tendencies. I want to expose both sides of every story which our media tends to not do.

Women in America. We have come a long way! In 2008, we saw a woman on the Presidential ticket (Hillary Clinton) and we also saw a woman on the Vice Presidential ticket (Sarah Palin).  2012 is coming up faster than most people think, and while the Democratic Party will not have a male on their Presidential ticket, we have already seen Congressman Michelle Bachman fighting for the Republican Party Presidential Ticket!

Regardless of your political preference, I think women should be aware of the struggles we face in politics. Some of these struggles, have been created by women themselves. For instance, in 2008 we saw Tina Brown the editor of Newsweek throw Sarah Palin on the front cover in her running shorts.


"How can you solve a problem like Sarah?" The article inside mentioned nothing about the hard work or dedication Sarah had to her country, nor did it mention how she could have helped our country. Instead, the article was bash-bash-bash. Nothing constructive, and yet the more I read it, the more I felt like I was reading an article straight out of Mean Girls. Its one thing to dislike someone (and there are enough Palin haters to go around) but to not mention anything good about a fellow hard-working woman is disgraceful. But Tina doesn't stop there. She continues to attack the Republican Women by releasing the cover of Newsweek this week.

This is a photo of Michelle Bachman, GOP Presidential Candidate. Not in this photo, is the caption below Congresswoman Bachman. The caption read "The Queen of Rage". Mean and spiteful? Yes. Without reason? Absolutely. Sexist? That point I have not yet proven. Lets take a look at how Tina portrays Republican men
Mike Huckabee:

John McCain:


Even Rush Limbaugh:

And lets be honest,when it comes to Republicans, Rush Limbaugh just might be one of the most disliked of them all. But Tina portrays him and the other Republican men as powerful, admired, respectable, intelligent. Why is it that Tina must portray the women of this party like animals without brains?  She doesn't portray Democratic women in a bad light, for example, lets look at a cover of Hillary Clinton:

Did you read the caption? "150 Women Who Shake the World" Thats a well deserved caption. "The Queen of Rage" is not. The GOP has released press statements of how Tina Brown's critical view of Republican Women is sexist...but I don't think it is. Clearly, Tina Brown is doing her best to minimize the sincerity with which we look at Michelle Bachman. She doesn't want the world to look at Bachman as a legitimate candidate and she tries very hard.
So I came to the conclusion that Tina Brown is not sexist, but biased towards Republican Women.
Its a shame to be biased towards a woman of any political party. Women have taken great measures to protect the future of women's role in the world. I think women from both parties understand that in a man's world, if they take one step back, they could potentially ruin any future generations chances of laying hands on the Presidential seat. Tina Brown is forcing women to sit back down, instead of encouraging them to stand up. By diminishing Michelle Bachman's campaign, Tina could potentially be ruining how the world views women and their capacity to hold office.

So all in all, I reccomend that Tina Brown give Michelle Bachman a fair and fighting chance. Stop criticizing her looks, and instead, evaluate her values and ideas. When I say evaluate them, I mean to look at the idea proposed and instead of saying "its stupid" tell the world WHY you disagree. Women are just as smart as men, that is evident, and now we need to put our minds where our mouth is.

Do you agree? Do you think Tina Brown is sexist or biased or neither? Do you think Tina Brown portrays Republican Women and Republican Men fairly? Let me know what you think, comments are appreciated.
Thanks!
xoxo