Women v. Women
October 5, 2008
by Amy Siskind
|As this race has progressed, many of us have found it saddening and perhaps a bit disturbing to see the ease with which women attack other women.
When Sen. Hillary Clinton ran for the Democratic nomination, many Democratic women did not stand behind her — because she wasn’t “likable”, was too much of the old establishment, or other reasons having little to do with policy and much more to do with a visceral dislike.
Now, as another woman candidate, Gov. Sarah Palin, makes her bid to become the first woman Vice President, many of the attacks on Gov. Palin are coming from women. This is not to say that we should all blindly vote for Gov. Palin; some women clearly will disagree with her on major issues.
But perhaps this is a time when we should do a bit of soul-searching on women’s views of other women. Do we hold women candidates to the same standard to which we hold male candidates? Do we look for rationales NOT to vote for women?
Time Magazine published a story yesterday entitled Why Some Women Hate Sarah Palin. In the article, the author cites three reasons why women won’t vote for Palin:
1. She’s too pretty. This is very bad news. At school, pretty girls tend to be liked only by other pretty girls. The rest of us, whose looks hover somewhere around underwhelming, resent them and whisper archly of their “unearned attention.” So, if everyone calls your candidate “hot,” you’re in a whole mess of trouble. If the Pakistani head-of-state more or less hits on her, well, yes, she’ll get a sympathy vote, but we’re in Dukakis-in-the-tank territory. It’s an admiration vaporizer. (Of course a candidate can’t be too ugly, or it will scare the men, who are clearly shallow as a gender.)
2. She’s too confident. This also bodes ill. Women have self-esteem issues. But they also have other-women’s-esteem issues. As almost any woman — from the head of the Budgerigar Breeders association to Queen Elizabeth — can attest, it’s almost impossible to get confidence right. Too timid and you’re a pushover. Too self-aggrandizing and you’re a bad word unless it’s about a dog, or Project Runway’s Kenley. Or Michelle, my best friend until 9th grade, after she won that debating prize and got cocky.
3. She could embarrass us. History is not on Palin’s side. Every time a woman gets a plum job, be she Hewlett-Packard’s ex-boss, Carly Fiorina, or CBS’s Katie Couric, there’s always that whispery fear that people will think she got the job just because she’s a woman. So if things don’t go well — and a couple of YouTube clips have suggested that they’re certainly not going well for Palin — women are the first to turn on her for making it harder for the rest of us to louse up at work.
The New Agenda is not taking a view on Time’s article, but we are watching this trend carefully: women v. women. And long after the 2008 presidential election is over, The New Agenda will stay on this topic. The first step on the path to change is recognizing the problem.
Palin is too pretty and perky, Clinton was too unattractive and saggy.
There is no way to win.
We need to address the problem of Obama calling Sara Palin racist because she is calling him out! Lets end this now! Help spread the word and blog this link on every website you visit. Lets make this an issue. It is very valid! Please read:
link
I have to say, I have seen some of these attitudes in the workplace. Some women do not seem to want to help other women – I don’t know if it’s a “I’ve had to climb my way up through horrible circumstances and I’ll be damned if I’m going to make it easy for you” resentment, or a fear of competition (haven’t women always been told they must compete against each other to survive?), or perhaps joining the mensclub makes you acquire some of their values and selfishness along the way. On the other hand, I’ve seen some women who actively mentor others – but it seems these wonderful females are really making a conscious effort.
We cannot see each other as the enemy.
this article is using the reverse psychology of “why women don’t like palin” to say that women don’t and should not. In reality, I think a good amount of women like and relate to palin. This article is both sexist in its statements and demeaning to women’s intellect from its tone.
She IS too confident. It has nothing, in my opinion, to do with her being a woman but everything to do with her sharing Bush’s over-confidence and arrogance. To explicitly say in a debate you’re not necessarily going to address the mod’s questions, but talk about what you want? I think the American people should be greatly offended.
Nonsense. Biden could be described as “too confident” while mis-stating facts with a forceful bravado, but no one describes him as such. I think Palin isn’t “playing by the rules” because she has the MSM opposed to her and it was smart of her to say “Look, Ifil, I won’t call you out for being in the tank for Obama, but I’m gonna come here to put a few things straight”. GOOD FOR HER.
Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures…
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