Joe Miller: Murkowski is Witchy
October 29, 2010
by Henrietta
|The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
Joe Miller, the Tea Party backed Republican contender for U.S Senate in Alaska, is at it again.
Back in August his campaign likened opponent Lisa Murkowski to a prostitute in a tweet . And now Miller himself stars in a new and attempting-to-be-clever advertisement that claims Murkowski is NOT a witch… merely witch-like.
So I must ask… why do male politicians and the media insist on calling female politicians witches? Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Christine O’Donnell and Lisa Murkowski have all been called witches as have many more women holding or seeking office. I’m tired of it and I think these negative female archetypes can creep into our consciousness. Before we know it the public assumes there’s something unnaturally evil about a particularly powerful (and often middle-aged) women.
Check out the Youtube video below. It’s short, insipid and full of witches!
With Miller trailing into 3rd place in recent poles (Murkowski is leading), he must be feeling desperate. But desperation is no justification for sexism no matter if you live in the world Liberal Dude Nation or Conservative Dude Nation.
Oh, FFS, SHUT UP WITH THE WITCHES, GUYS!
I don’t care what party he is, knock off the witches, bitches, sluts, and nuts stuff NOW.
And yes, I know Palin endorsed him. Knock off the witch/bitch/slut/nut stuff when it comes to her, too.
Can there be a post here at TNA detailing the history of “wiches” and why it has sexist implications? I don’t think many people understand the history and why its so sexist. I think the public knows its sexist implicitly, but they do not know exactly why. They need a teachable moment and a history lesson. Any feminist historians here that can speak to this issue?
is she also “whoreish”?
I don’t think it needs to be detailed, actually. Crazy Scary Magical Monster On the Rampage is how everyone sees powerful women. It shocks me that Hollywood didn’t make Voldemort a woman.
I find this ad a mash up of scary Halloween related images, the “Monster Debt” and “Scary special interests” and “Frightening bailouts”. This is not the same thing as Democrats using whore and bitch to describe women who run for office, holding corrupt caucuses in 2008 and telling Hillary to sit down and shut up in 2008.
Hollywood might have made Voldemort a woman but the Harry Potter series was written by a Brit and the movie was made in the UK because Rowling wouldn’t allow it to be made in Hollywood.
I’m tired of all the witch accusations. What’s it been, a few thousand years of this crap?? Get a new line, boyz.
As an Alaskan, I’m not inclined to vote for him, even though he’s pro-life. Judging from his ads, he’s not all that pro-women. He was also fired from his borough job for lying to his employer repeatedly.
Think I’ll pass. :/
This may be a “Halloween” ad, but it is designed to tap into the patriarchal fear of feminine power. Witches/Wiccans were both male and female and a form of spiritual worship that revered the earth and a balance of male and female energy. Many strong women were terrorized, tortured and murdered for refusing to completely submit to the acceptable spiritual practices of patriarchy, ie: the Roman Catholic Church, Christianity and other male centered religions. They were labeled “devil” worshipers who deserved to be “burned” at the stake. This is powerful psychological warfare and not just a scary ad. Yes, it is designed to scare, to scare people away from challenging patriarchal power and control by not voting to put women in positions of power.
http://atheism.about.com/od/ch.....itches.htm
You all should check out Erica Jong’s Witches book. I have it around here somewhere but I can’t find it. I read it long ago and it gave me a very positive impression of witches. Just because some men are frightened of female power or witches and all the male religions persecute them doesn’t mean they are evil or ugly or any other negative thing. Don’t let men or their media define witches for you. I am always a witch on Halloween because they are powerful.
Thank you realchange. This was the history and truth that must be told.
thanks real change for your summery on witch trials. the numbers of executed witches are estimated between 12 000 to 100000. started during pope Innocenz III and lasted in Europe into the 18th century. the most famous women to be burned as witch is Jean D’Arc. reading through the trial documents it is apparent that her refusal to wear women’s clothes was a big offense and treated as heresy. the larger background of course were her military successes during the 100 year war when 2/3 of France was occupied by the English and her years of winning numerous battles had driven the English beyond the Loire and the French army had the upper hand. But generals caught during the war were usually bought out from the opponents and an attempt to do that was made. however the local catholic authorities stepped in and made the case a witch trial. Jean ended at the stake, her trial was a few months later annulled for procedural shortcomings (she had no lawyer and had to defend herself as layperson against about 40 of the most prestigious theologists of her time) and she was canonized.
other coinciding battles named between the catholic church and the accused “witches” was the high performance of folk medicine (herbal, wound care, basic surgery) in contrast to the failing academic medicine (school medicine). medical doctors were accepted by the church and women healers were a threat. the knowledge of the “witch balm”, herbs with euphoric effects may have played into the witch scheme of riding in the air to gatherings. some see the witch hunts as early antidrug wars.
some of the descriptions of the trials and the burnings remind me of lynching scenes. extreme cruelty and public spectacle. some reports of accused having tongues cut out and had to nod or shake their head when names of people were read accused of being present at witch gatherings. under such type of torture huge groups of people (from tens to over 100s per town) were tried at some town and convicted within days.
some refer to the witch trials as the Holocaust of the Catholic church. at least 3/4 of the executed were women, many of them without any association with pagan rituals.
well Bes, you are absolutely right many of the executed “witches” were simply strong and competent women. and the use of the term in political campaigns signals nothing but fear of the male candidates of losing to a woman.
so maybe we should just remind the male candidates that Jean d’Arc the saint was burnt at the stake. O’Donnell, Murkowski, Pelosi, Clinton, Palin as modern Jeanne D’Arcs.
yttik — that’s hilarious (and true.)
Well I think it would be worse to be called a “witch burner” or an “intolerant ignorant bigot who fears women” than to be called a witch. So if that ad is not a joke or a Halloween themed ad as I thought, then it is detrimental to the candidate who placed it and so there is no need to protest it. But that’s just me and as a disclaimer, in going through my Halloween junk last night I realized I have 5 different witch costume hats so maybe my perspective is off on the topic of witches.
I love witch costumes too! If nothing more than a hat. In a sense, when some of us dress as a witch on Halloween, we are defying the patriarchy. Love it!
Leave your Response Want an avatar? Get a gravatar!
Community Room
February 22, 2012 at 11:22 am
February 17, 2012 at 2:39 pm
February 6, 2012 at 4:25 pm
January 30, 2012 at 2:36 pm
January 26, 2012 at 4:38 pm
January 23, 2012 at 1:04 pm
January 15, 2012 at 11:37 am
January 9, 2012 at 6:36 pm
BUILD your NETWORK
Our Network of College Women
Protecting our Teenage Girls
We’re in the Media »
Click to see our latest stories in the media
More Stories »Recent Comments
The Latest from our Blog
Archives
Pioneer Mentors
Blogroll
Find us Online
Subscribe Entries (RSS) | Comments (RSS)
The New Agenda is a 501(c)(4) organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls by bringing about systemic change in the media, at the workplace, at school and at home. More...