Completely Unnecessary

Fascinating article on Clinton in today’s NYT. Some highlights below in terms of gendered language.

I know a hell of a lot about Hillary Clinton, but there were some really interesting things I’d never heard before. For instance, she’s the one who came up with the term ‘war room’ for the 1992 Clinton campaign strategy team. Incidentally, War Room is an interesting documentary about that time, featuring Carville and Stephanopoulos, who looks all of about 15-years-old in 1992.

“She makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy,” North Carolina’s governor, Michael F. Easley, said in endorsing her, and a union leader in Portage, Ind., praised her “testicular fortitude.”

This kind of language and pugilistic imagery, however, also evokes the baggage that makes Mrs. Clinton such a provocative political figure. For as much as a willingness to “do what it takes” and “die hard” are marketable commodities in politics, they can also yield to less flattering qualities, plenty of which have been ascribed to her over the years. Just as supporters praise her “toughness” and “tenacity,” critics also describe her as “divisive,” “a dirty fighter” or “willing to do anything to win.”

I’m amazed that they totally leave aside the ‘bitch’ memes that float around her (or expressed on national television by Newt Gingrich’s mom). There are only vague references to troubles with her public persona. ‘Uppity’ is about the closest they get to describing the usual ‘aggressive’, ‘too…’, ‘not enough…’ language that usually turns up.

That’s not true actually - the NYT just has someone else say it:

“To me it showed her brittleness, her coldness, her spoiling for a fight,” said Mr. Cooper, an Obama backer.

Anyway, I think it’s a really interesting article, both in the construction and the content. Especially, as it’s currently running with a flattering picture of Obama and his daughter as a sidebar.

ps - couldn’t hate the gas tax ‘holiday’ more if they were offering to fuel cars with puppies.

Link:
Ruthlessness and Grit Seen in Clinton’s Style [NYT]

Vaguely Related

• Life Without Hillary Clinton
• Clinton, the Pundits and the Math

The Age really stuffed up the other day. See, a new GG’s been appointed in Australia - Queen’s rep, we’re not a republic, it’s a thing - and, get this, she’s a lady.

Yet the Age’s initial article really only managed to gender-tag her in two sentences:

Prominent lawyer, academic and women’s activist Quentin Bryce will replace Major General Michael Jeffery as the Queen’s representative in September.
…
Ms Bryce and her husband, Adjunct Professor Michael Bryce AM AE, have two daughters, three sons and five grandchildren.

The first one isn’t that bad, and they saved the child-tagging for the last sentence. They do manage to give her husband’s honours (AM AE) without noting hers (AC, which is higher), but, overall, a poor showing.

Let’s see if the Herald Sun can do better. (The HS actually ran two articles, both of which are timestamped at 12am, so we’ll look at both):

Article One: First Lady takes G-G reins

KEVIN Rudd has broken with 107 years of tradition by announcing the appointment of Australia’s first female Governor-General.
…
Ms Bryce, 65, is a married mother of five with five grandchildren.

She is a former federal sex discrimination commissioner, law lecturer and a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Ms Bryce’s husband, Adjunct Prof Michael Bryce, is an architect and design expert.

I was unaware that we were referring to a historical pattern of sex discrimination as tradition, so good to know.

The HS also did a much better job of getting the crucial info that she has grown children (and therefore won’t be abandoning them to do this ‘job’ thing) higher up in the story. Description of husband’s profession, check.

That’s pretty good. What else does the HS have to offer?

Woman of substance (and I swear to god this is the lede and opening sentence):

QUENTIN Bryce is a trailblazer in a twinset. Australia’s first female Governor-General has a long record of public service and personal achievement.

Feminist, lawyer, community activist and grandmother, the Governor of Queensland is also a monarchist who believes Australia is well served by its system of government.
…
Ms Bryce was recently recognised by Harper’s Bazaar as one of Australia’s best-dressed women.

She is married to architect and designer Michael Bryce, and the couple have three sons, two daughters and five grandchildren.

Bam! That is some awesome gender-checking. That’s going to be hard to top. But I bet the 2003 Age and HS can do it! I’m sure they described then-appointee GG Michael Jeffery’s appearance, marital status, number of children, position on feminism (or other -isms), and the profession of his wife.

What? They didn’t mention any of those things [the HS article is only available on LexisNexis, so you're going to have to trust me; they mention his wife in an attached Biography]. That’s odd. I wonder why that kind of information wasn’t relevant to his appointment?

You’ll be glad to know, though, that the Canberra Times [also LN] carried an article about Marlena Jeffery the day after the announcement. She had done her husband’s dry cleaning in anticipation, has a ‘terrific smile’ and was looking forward to decorating the family house.

[Note: All articles have reduced Bryce's title - she is currently the Governor of Queensland - from 'Her Excellency' or 'Governor' to 'Ms'. This however, is a consistent Australian convention for both sexes (e.g., Mr Rudd), so I'm not counting it.]

If you feel like reading more, the Daily Telegraph (Sydney’s Murdoch sister to the HS) had comments about Bryce’s breeding and praise from fashionistas.

Links:
Australia to get first female GG [the Age]
First Lady take GG reins [Herald Sun]
Woman of Substance [Herald Sun]
PM names Michael Jeffrey as next GG [the Age]
Why Quentin Bryce is not just your Everage Governor-General [Daily Telegraph]

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Looks like Chelsea Clinton is all grown up:

The softballs come gently, lobbed by voters who support her mother and are thrilled to see that the awkward duckling of the Clinton administration has become a glamorous swan.

That’s the opening line of a LA Times profile of Clinton daughter turned surrogate. Let see which ‘women politicians in the media’ boxes we can tick:

Her hair is long and highlighted blond. Her black flared jeans are tight, and her gray blazer nips at her small waist. She has a boyfriend, her own apartment and a terrier named Soren. (After the philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard.)

Hair, clothes, and martial status - check!

Mostly, her voice is low, slightly raspy like her dad’s, and curiously monotone.

Tone of voice - check! Though, also curiously, she’s being criticized for not being shrill. That’s new(ish).

…despite her poise occasionally slips into adolescent cadence, ending a statement with a question mark…

Subtle undermining of her competence - check!

Bonus points for checking the Hillary-Clinton-box of extremely unflattering photo!

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a leading political media scholar, said in response to a different LA Times question: ‘I don’t think adult daughters are held to a different standard.’

Yeah, neither do I. And I bet Jamieson is annoyed that she was quoted in a story that reaffirmed so many of the double binds faced by women in the public sphere.

Via Jezebel

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Said Mr Abbott today regarding Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard:

I would … suggest that she stop shrieking at us,” Mr Abbott said.

Abbott has every right to be sexist today; Work Choices was given the boot and this blow has obviously upset his delicate nature . (He spent last night talking over people on Insight, but I guess he didn’t get it all out.)

Where else have I heard language like that? Who can guess?

Hillary, her shrill voice much improved and lowered through brutal overstrain, has certainly gained confidence and performance skill on the campaign trail, but I still don’t trust her.

That’s Camilla Paglia on Clinton last week. To be fair, she doesn’t say Clinton shrieks - she leaves that for the National Organization of Women (page 2).

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Or, rather, one picture that’s been floating around the Internet for a long time now.
I really just hate this more than I can say (which is why it only gets a thumbnail). It’s racist and sexist at the same time… (and a friend of mine has it on his myspace profile. Boo.)

Who do I stab for this?

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Geraldine Ferraro’s back in the news, which is bad news for Camp Clinton.

Yesterday’s money quote:

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position,” she continued. “And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”

There are, of course, parts of her response that are not included in the media’s quote selection. I believe she’s partly attempting to describe (albeit extremely poorly) the fact that ideas about gender and politics are still very stagnant. Let’s look for example at the headline that The Daily Breeze used in its Ferraro piece:

Geraldine Ferraro lets her emotions do the talking

Do we think that would have been the headline if she had been a man?

So, after some kerfluffle between the two campaigns, Ferraro went back to talk to The Daily Breeze. And, the new quote everyone’s talking about:

“Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let’s address reality and the problems we’re facing in this world, you’re accused of being racist, so you have to shut up,” Ferraro said. “Racism works in two different directions. I really think they’re attacking me because I’m white. How’s that?”

This one can’t be defended quite as much - she was one stronger ground with the gender arguments.

Look, I’m no fan of Ferraro, but, differently worded (especially without the ‘I’m white’ bit), she’s not that far off.

It seems to me - from the hundreds of bookmarks tagged ‘HRC’ and ‘gender’ that I’ve collected over the last few months - that the media treats the issue of gender far differently from that of race.

Not that Obama is getting a free pass because he’s African-American, but that it’s far more acceptable to hit hard on gender than race. For instance, everyone thinks the ‘Hussein’ jabs are slimy (they are), but there’s been far less outcry about the constant discussion (not to mention derision) of Clinton’s appearance. Both of these things are used to undermine the fitness of the candidates to serve as president, yet they are not viewed as equally bad.

American attitudes as they are, the media can’t touch Obama with a ten-foot pole on issues of race. (Remember how well those “is he black enough?” stories went over?) But no one seems to complain about stories questioning HRC’s femininity (or lack thereof), her tearing up (and does this ‘humanize’ her enough to be president or does it hurt her?), and a host of other issues all tied to her gender.

I have no way to test this empirically, but it seems that the media is confronted with two spectacular stories: the first female and the first African-American viable candidates. Since they aren’t allowed to play with the latter, they’re having a field day with the first.

If she loses, Camp Clinton is going to try to spin it as media attacks that lost her the primaries. It won’t be – it’ll be the shoddy campaign she’s put together and the ‘help’ of frenemies like Ferraro.

But there’s no question in my mind that the media is far more willing to throw around gendered terms and stories than ones concerning race. Even if they get spit back in their faces – like some of the comments Chris Matthews has made – the backlash is way less than it’d be if they were racial. It’s the difference between, ‘Booo! You’re a bastard’ and ‘Well, that’s not very nice, is it?’

Ugg, rereading those two quotes it does sound like Ferraro’s just like, ‘Everyone loves him because he’s black.’ But I think she was trying to make a larger point concerning gender and HRC’s experience in the media.

(But… confidential to Hillary Clinton: you need to take her aside and make her stop harming you).

Update: TPM has video of Ferraro on FoxNews tonight. They say she didn’t do Clinton any favors. I think it’s pretty neutral; she makes some good points and then offers to raise money for Obama should he be the nominee… and then threatens him.

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I may have to apologise to the Age. They may have just had a moment of insight over what the rest of the week would bring. Probably not.

My critique of the Clinton campaign, as I’ve expressed to many of you, has been with the campaign itself. I love the candidate, but don’t like her staff and some of the strategies they’ve chosen to pursue. But today, I actually have to say ‘boo’ at Clinton herself.

The two candidates are in a dust up in Ohio over mailers sent by the Obama campaign that criticize Clinton on health care and NAFTA. They may or may not be fair, I haven’t seen them, so I don’t know.

Here’s a really terrible way to handle a dispute though:

Before speaking to reporters, Clinton sought to draw parallels to an untested Bush in 2000 and Obama.
…
“He promised change as a compassionate conservative and the American people got shafted and we’re going to have to make up for it,” she said.

Ew. It’s similar to Obama’s smug little move in the debates, saying to Clinton, ‘you’re likable enough.’ It was childish, and showed a side of him I’d like not to see too often. But, I don’t know, ’shafted’ isn’t the kind of language I want to hear out of someone who wants to be president. It sounds odd, considering I have a mouth like a pirate, but it just strikes me as incredibly unstatesmanlike.

The part that really bothers me, though, is that it makes her seem like she’s flailing. Her campaign’s been a little off lately, but Clinton is a polished politician. She may be frustrated that the American people are trending Obama at this point, but going nasty in tone and language isn’t going to get her show back on the road. Look, she’s not even wrong about the ’shafted’ thing, but she knows that making comparisons to Bush will hurt the party if Obama’s the nominee. And she did it anyway, and in a distasteful manner.

If she goes down - and, as Sara rightfully points out, this thing isn’t over - I will be so disappointed if she goes down badly. An interesting piece in the Age yesterday talked about the fact that there’s no mold that comfortably holds ‘Hillary.’ Whereas Obama fits in the ’strong male leader’ meme, she’s not Eleanor Roosevelt or Margaret Thatcher.

I would argue that Clinton is the mold. And right now, she’s casting it: the American female presidential candidate. There’s a responsibility that she, unfortunately, has to carry. If she is not the nominee, the lasting image of her as a candiate is going to reflect upon every other woman who runs for US President.

She sounded bitter in this comment. This kind of behavior not only harms her chances to be president, but harms the chances of the next woman who is audacious enough to challenge the status quo. There’s no doubt that the amount of attention this story has gotten is because she’s a woman and because she used such a gendered term. But she’s smarter than this, and needs to keep her head in the game.

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Another day, another story of worldwide respect for women, as demonstrated by their treatment when most vulnerable.

A 15-year-old, 80-lb Brazilian girl was incarcerated for 26 days for petty theft… in a cell with 34 men. No medals for guessing how that went down. She was raped, tortured and had to trade sex for food. Her head was shaved by guards to make her look more like a boy.

Meanwhile, details from a complaint by another former Halliburton employee allege that she was raped by an unknown fellow employee. He got the key to her apartment from the unlocked box where all the keys were kept, as you do.

Jessica at Jezebel sums it up for us:

The Florida woman also maintains it was non-consensual sex, though Halliburton (apparently) internally determined it was consensual, while also protecting the identity of the alleged rapist from her, which is sort of doubly insulting if you think about it; not only are they alleging she consented to sex but they’re alleging she consented to sex with someone she did not know.

Meanwhile, Australia is looking into another case of child rape in Queensland. And - wait for it - some are calling for extension of the Intervention into Queensland! Hurrah. I’m sure those girls will feel better when companies are mining on their traditional lands.

It’s, like, so symbolic.

Plus! Real, live discussion in yesterday’s comments about rape and defense contractors. Is capitalism or misogyny to blame? Also, proof that upwards of three individuals read this blog. Is a slow work week or an ice storm trapping you in the house to blame?

Links:
Rape of Girl, 15, Exposes Abuses in Brazil Prison System [NYT, h/t Jezebel]
Defense Contractors: If It Wasn’t For Diplomatic Immunity-Protected Rape, They’d Never Get Laid [Jezebel]
Step in over rape debacle, Macklin told [the Age]

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Only at my house can a gathering over a bottle of wine turn into a knock-down drag-out about the nature and purpose of feminism. I want to add, for the record, that I was not one of the hotter heads in the room.

I brought up this, of course. And, eventually, I defined feminism via my favorite political campaign of all time: Jim Edgar vs. Dawn Clark Netch for IL governor in god knows what year (I remember seeing her speak at WY with Madeline, so had to be after ‘93). Every time a comment, idea or proposal of Edgar’s was mentioned in the paper, it was just that - mentioned. Clark Netch, on the other hand, was an older woman who wore scarves. As I recall, not a single discussion of the woman or her campaign failed to mention the scarves and that she was not particularly attractive.

Feminism is about not having a mention about your clothes, style, etc. and, more importantly, ‘what they say about you’ attached to everything you do.

So to people like my housemate, who casually thinks that feminism has ‘just kind of gone too far’, when I stop seeing things like this in the paper, that’s a discussion we can have.

There was cleavage on display Wednesday afternoon on C-SPAN2. It belonged to Sen. Hillary Clinton.

…

With Clinton, there was the sense that you were catching a surreptitious glimpse at something private. You were intruding — being a voyeur. Showing cleavage is a request to be engaged in a particular way. It doesn’t necessarily mean that a woman is asking to be objectified, but it does suggest a certain confidence and physical ease. It means that a woman is content being perceived as a sexual person in addition to being seen as someone who is intelligent, authoritative, witty and whatever else might define her personality. It also means that she feels that all those other characteristics are so apparent and undeniable, that they will not be overshadowed.

To display cleavage in a setting that does not involve cocktails and hors d’oeuvres is a provocation. It requires that a woman be utterly at ease in her skin, coolly confident about her appearance, unflinching about her sense of style. Any hint of ambivalence makes everyone uncomfortable. And in matters of style, Clinton is as noncommittal as ever.

This isn’t to attack the point of the article, per se, mostly because I don’t care about HC’s cleavage. What I find appalling is that this is seen by the Post as a valid point of discussion. For all those who think women are just getting too many breaks or whatever these days - that it’s so easy being a woman - think about having comments about your appearance attached to every idea you propose or speech you make.

That’s the degrading part - knowing that your appearance is just as important as what’s going on inside your head. That you can get an entire article about your breasts, but not your policy initiatives.

No, I wouldn’t say we’ve arrived.

ps - I’m home.

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Dana Perino is filling in as WH Press Secretary while Tony Snow undergoes treatment for his recently (and regretfully) returned cancer. What does the Washington Post have to say about Dana?

Perino, who is diminutive even in two-inch heels, affects none of the world-weary cynicism of many veteran spokesmen. When telling reporters Tuesday that everyone is rooting for Snow to return to work soon, she added with a nervous laugh, “I certainly hope so,” adding that if she thought he were watching at the moment, she’d “start blushing.” (Snow later told Perino that she had done quite well.)
…
Perino hasn’t gotten any in-person support from her husband, British businessman Peter McMahon, who frequently travels overseas for the medical marketing company he founded and is in South Africa this week.

Uh ho. Looks like wee Dana isn’t getting as much support from hubby as Nancy Pelosi. How will she cope?

She has been comforted, however, by the other resident of their Capitol Hill home, a short-haired vizsla named Henry.

Anything else we should know about the perky, be-bobbed Perino?

A Colorado native whose father had her read the Denver newspapers as a third-grader and pick out articles for dinnertime discussion…

In 1997, while working as a congressional press secretary, Perino met McMahon on a plane. “I loved his accent,” she says. Seven months after their first date, she moved to Britain, and they were married four months after that.

Well, now that I know about her dad and more about her husband, I guess we can just fill in the details about the rest of her life. The Post mentions she worked for some tv station, moved to England, and then two more pieces of info about 2001 and 2005.

Gee, is there anything else we should know? Does she totally love cosmos?

Despite the sudden attention, Perino takes pains to emphasize that she is merely a temporary replacement for Snow.

“Tony has really big shoes to fill,” she says. “I’m a size 6.”

That is so adorable and ladylike. I can’t believe her husband isn’t more supportive! Boo!

Via WaPo. Boo.

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