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Monday, Jan 11, 2008
Psychological Gang Bang
of Hillary Is Proof We Need a Woman President
by Marcia
Pappas, President, NOW New York State
 We've
all witnessed scenarios where, on the playground little girls
are being taunted by little boys while both girls and boys stand idle,
afraid to speak up or even cheering. Or, in the workplace males
tease young and older female co-workers; make obscene gestures,
inappropriate comments, laughing and expecting (often correctly) that
everyone will join in. Then there was that movie where Jodie Foster
portrayed the true story of woman who was ganged raped in a bar while
others looked on and encouraged the realization. Still others
pretended the rape didn't happen. In short, gang raping of women is
commonplace in our culture both physically and metaphorically.
This past week, we
witnessed just such a phenomenon involving men who are afraid of a
powerful woman. Hillary Clinton, in her quest for her Presidential
nomination, has in fact endured infantile taunting and wildly
inappropriate commentary. Indeed we have witnessed almost
comical attacks by John Edwards who in turn sided with Barack Obama as
both snickered at Clinton's "breakdown," which consisted of a very
short dewy-eyed moment. Now John Kerry, who should certainly know
better after his own "swiftboating," has joined the playground gang.
But here's the news. Every
woman knows how it feels! There are those who will dismiss, defend or
even shame those around them into believing that we progressives are
making a mountain out of a mole hill. But that’s the game plan
of the patriarchal system that has persisted for millennia. Because
they can't frighten Hillary they've decided to control her with the
time-old trick of patriarchal ridicule. Women, you know what I mean!
Pundits want to know what
happened in New Hampshire. Why didn't the polls see it coming?
How could they have gotten it so wrong? Well, aside from the
thousands of women and progressive men who made calls from their
homes, dropped literature, and held house parties for undecided
voters, the truth of the matter is…women get it! That’s why,
when women in New Hampshire could vote in private, they came out in
droves for Hillary. They'd seen more Hillary bashing than had Iowa's
women, and the polls stopped too early to measure their collective
reaction. What happened is that women stood up and said "We're
fed up and we're not going to take it anymore! We won't sit idly
by and watch, while you gang bang one of us." One woman told me
she didn't even want to vote for Hillary because she feared that her
campaign would be the most dreadful blood bath in the history of
politics. I asked her “if Hillary is willing to stick her neck out for
us, should we not be brave enough to stand strong behind her?”
She agreed and said of course she would vote for Hillary.
We have waited a long time
to see our first truly viable women presidential candidate. And what
we see now during the debates is what women and girls have experienced
from time immemorial. But it seems John's recent alliance with Barack
sent a clear message to women everywhere. The message is that if a
woman gets too powerful, she can count on the good ole boys ganging up
on her. Hillary is a powerful, strong and intelligent woman and she
deserves our support. Let us remember what we as women's rights
supporters, are charged to do: SUPPORT WOMEN!
And I, your
writer,certainly speak from the belly of the beast. I was in Iowa for
ten days with other feminist leaders, donating our personal time and
money to help with Hillary's campaign. And in spite of our shortfall
in Iowa, we did make a difference. Our efforts gave Hillary second
place in the precinct we walked. Let me tell you why.
Our job on caucus night
was to transport eight women from a nursing home to their caucus site.
These were eighty-to-ninety-year-old women who came out in the cold
weather and climbed into our vans to stand for Hillary. As we talked
with glee about the possibility of our first women president, we were
overjoyed to hear stories of their dedication to making it happen. One
woman said "I never thought I would live long enough to see a woman
president." Another woman said "It's about time; we need to have a
woman as our President." These were women who were born around the
time that women won the right to vote. They'd heard first-hand stories
of that struggle from their mothers and grandmothers. They fought long
and hard to see a day when they could have their own credit cards, own
their own homes and be in control of their own bodies. They remember
all too well when it was legal for a man to beat and/or rape his wife
because she was HIS property. They remember when “rape” was ignored by
people in the community and law enforcement officials. “She must
have done something to deserve it” was common language in those days.
Today we still see variations on this same behavior, more subtle
perhaps, through success of our efforts, but nonetheless still
abusive.
Now those senior citizens
we transported stood tall for Hillary, and want us all to know that to
have a woman president is to send a clear message to little girls
everywhere: "Yes, you can do great things and even become President of
the United States." Those senior citizens really get it!
So let's not let young
women and little girls down, whether it's on the playground, in the
workplace, or in the political arena. Young women need role
models. They need to know they can be powerful and control their
own lives. By putting Hillary in the Oval Office we send that message
loud and clear for all to hear. Little girls everywhere need to know
that to be important they don't have to emulate Britney Spears or
other similarly-exploited women. We can do it!
Think about the legacy
we'll leave behind when we support Hillary Clinton for President of
the United States. Let’s put a stop to the psychological “gang
banging” of women and girls. Let's stand up and be counted by way of
the hard-won votes we can now cast!
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