Preach it, sista!

My boss, Martha, sent me this excellent Washington Post piece about the mysogyny that has emerged, both in society and in politics, as a reaction against the Clinton campaign. It summarizes a lot of the reasons I've been a Clinton supporter, even though I'm the most rabidly liberal young person you've ever met.

See, Obama and Clinton's positions on the issues are pretty similar, and in many cases they're virtually identical. So what's the difference between them? For me, it's the actual effect each candidate would have on my life if they became president; from a political standpoint, either candidate would be a victory for the left, but a win for Clinton would mean a big step forward for women in the workplace.

I'm tired of being told I can't do certain things because I'm a woman, especially in the field of journalism. There are lots of feisty female reporters, but at every paper I've ever worked on, the lead reporter is ALWAYS a man-- even if he's not even very good. At both of my past internships, there was one male intern working with me, and he always got to do the political reporting and learn the ropes of page layout, while I was sent off to do the human interest pieces. While doing word-on-the-street pieces for the Weekly Beat in Poughkeepsie, NY, I was sexually harrassed, catcalled, and stalked. In fact, I even had a complete stranger come up to me during an interview and tell me to "get back in the kitchen."

Like the author of the above article, I won't miss a lot of things about this campaign season once it's done. I won't miss the "Hillary Nutcracker, a device in which a pantsuit-clad Clinton doll opens her legs to reveal stainless-steel thighs that, well, bust nuts." I also won't miss hearing Clinton referred to by both the extreme right and the desperate left using various offensive, anti-woman epithets, like "bitch" (as in the infamous question posed to McCain), "whore" (which was said by liberal radio personality Randi Rhodes), and "she-devil" (courtesy of MSNBC's Chris Matthews).

Imagine if anyone else had called Obama a name that referenced his blackness. Imagine if a TV commentator had used a racial slur to describe him, or if a doll had been made of Obama that caricatured him. Wouldn't people be clamoring for blood? Then why is it that we're allowed to insult women for daring to believe they are capable of holding the highest office in the land?

If Obama wins the nomination, then I'll vote for him, because he's a better choice than John McCain. But I wish I could just keep casting my vote for Clinton-- because she is the "candidate of change" in my life, and in the lives of lots of women.