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fleabiscuit

(4,542 posts)
Mon Feb 22, 2016, 02:09 AM Feb 2016

"Hillary Clinton’s all-American scarlet letter"

Somehow I missed this one. Makes me want to fight harder.

THE PURITY PARADOX
Hillary Clinton’s all-American scarlet letter

“There is something in the United States’s cultural imagination that has long prevented it from envisioning—and electing—a female leader. This observation is supported by a recent United Nation’s report that ranks the supposedly progressive United States 75th for the number of women in positions of political leadership. Currently, there are twenty-two countries led by a woman.

Perhaps Americans’ reluctance to elect a female leader—and their particular antipathy toward Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton—can be traced to the country’s puritanical origins. Other countries have a long tradition of recognizing and valuing women as leaders. Their myths include female gods and their histories are replete with female political icons, from Kali and Athena to Joan of Arc and Eva Perón….”

“…Even in 2016, there is little that America hates more than a “tainted,” experienced woman—especially a woman who believes her experience to be advantageous. Because Hillary is a woman with a past, the theory goes, she needs to atone. For example, that means she needs to take responsibility for her husband’s presidency and alleged sexual indiscretions.

In politics, the moral opposite of experienced is “pure.” And this is precisely the angle that Bernie Sanders’s campaign and supporters have taken this primary season. Susan Sarandon, for example, gave an interview with the Daily Mail proclaiming her allegiance to Sanders because he is “untainted.” Sanders has been painted as the pure ideologue, a political outsider who has been able to somehow transcend the political fray. In truth, he’s a longtime liberal senator who has served the Democratic party for decades. (Sanders has in the past registered as an Independent but caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate and is seeking the Democratic party nomination.)…”

“…Sanders’ male privilege, on the other hand, means that he can afford to position himself as an anti-establishment, ideological purist. “He gets away with proposing unrealistic policy ideas that have little chance of being passed even by Democrats in Congress, let alone Republicans,” Michael A. Cohen wrote in a recent piece for the Boston Globe, “and then gets praised for being authentic….”

http://qz.com/606400/hillary-clintons-all-american-scarlet-letter/

8 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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"Hillary Clinton’s all-American scarlet letter" (Original Post) fleabiscuit Feb 2016 OP
What a great read, Thank you. nt UtahLib Feb 2016 #1
SS thinks BS is "untainted".. that so explains exaclty what sarandon knows about any of this Cha Feb 2016 #2
it's bernie the messiah mgmaggiemg Feb 2016 #3
I remember this dynamic from 2000 Ellen Forradalom Feb 2016 #4
Great article... Satch59 Feb 2016 #5
Thank you! DemonGoddess Feb 2016 #6
I have been thinking for a while Nonhlanhla Feb 2016 #7
We see who responds to donations to defeat one's opponent, Thinkingabout Feb 2016 #8

Cha

(295,925 posts)
2. SS thinks BS is "untainted".. that so explains exaclty what sarandon knows about any of this
Mon Feb 22, 2016, 02:13 AM
Feb 2016

Gracias flea.

Ellen Forradalom

(16,159 posts)
4. I remember this dynamic from 2000
Mon Feb 22, 2016, 04:22 AM
Feb 2016

Nader positioned himself the same way and Gore was pilloried, rightly or wrongly (usually the latter) on his actual, life-long record. I was disgusted by that.

Satch59

(1,353 posts)
5. Great article...
Mon Feb 22, 2016, 05:11 AM
Feb 2016

I know some BS supporters have said she plays the woman card but I think she should! Her amazing background is all because she's a strong intelligent woman who has fought for the underdog her whole life. It's a man's world and her being elected would be as consequential as Obama being elected. Young female BS supporters don't feel the pull for her because they haven't experienced the fight Hillary has fought...they are who they are because of her and of course others like her.

DemonGoddess

(4,640 posts)
6. Thank you!
Mon Feb 22, 2016, 07:02 AM
Feb 2016

Great read! As far as "playing the woman card", I say LET her. She has much to be proud of, with what she's accomplished DESPITE being a woman. She has to fight so much harder NOW because she's a woman. I see instances EVERY DAY where she is EXPECTED and has demanded of her to do things that no one else has to, BECAUSE she's a woman, and held to an unreasonable standard because of it. Yet, she's still out there, every day, FIGHTING.

Nonhlanhla

(2,074 posts)
7. I have been thinking for a while
Mon Feb 22, 2016, 08:31 AM
Feb 2016

that the underlying logic of much of the Bernie people's negative campaign against Hillary is based on the oldest textbook in the world: the narrative of the scarlet woman. The idea that Hillary's ties to Wall Street amounts to her being bought, is just a variant of calling her a certain word starting with "wh..." There was even a recent thread that echoed the old joke about the man offering money to the woman and when they haggle about the price, he says "we both already know what you are, we're just haggling about the price." Ha ha, very funny.

(Not dissing sex workers here, by the way, but we're talking about the age-old smearing of women as either pure as snow, Mary, or defiled and sexually available-for-a-price Eve. This dichotomoy is as old as the hills and still more prevalent than people realize.)

Thinkingabout

(30,058 posts)
8. We see who responds to donations to defeat one's opponent,
Mon Feb 22, 2016, 08:57 AM
Feb 2016

Sanders responded to the NRA donation by voting five times against the Brady Bill and other times on the bills NRA wanted passed or defeated.

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