Bitch-v-Bimbo

Now that Senator Hillary Clinton is said to be slated to join President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet as Secretary of State, the right-wing sexists (including women who denounced liberal women for calling Sarah Palin an airhead) have pulled out all the photoshop stops to paint her as a ugly old monster. That despite her total hawkishness.

As for Palin, well, what can I say? She did turn out to be an airhead, who nearly destroyed her party.

But, I must be honest. I think Palin got a rough ride, although it was different from Clinton's.

Palin's appearance and attention to her family (or lack of it, depending on how you saw it) worked against her in that she was stereotyped in certain ways. Clinton on the other hand was attacked for the same things, even though she is no beauty queen and, although a mother, and a very good one, was not surrounded by an ever-expanding brood.

In this week's New York magazine, Amanda Fortini examines how, despite all the breakthroughs made by women in politics during the 2008 election campaign, women were still confined by the not-so-good old fashioned stereotypes:

In the grand Passion play that was this election, both Clinton and Palin came to represent—and, at times, reinforce—two of the most pernicious stereotypes that are applied to women: the bitch and the ditz. Clinton took the first label, even though she tried valiantly, some would say misguidedly, to run a campaign that ignored gender until the very end. “Now, I’m not running because I’m a woman,” she would say. “I’m running because I think I’m the best-qualified and experienced person to hit the ground running.” She was highly competent, serious, diligent, prepared (sometimes overly so)—a woman who cloaked her femininity in hawkishness and pantsuits. But she had, to use an unfortunate term, likability issues, and she inspired in her detractors an upwelling of sexist animus: She was likened to Tracy Flick for her irritating entitlement, to Lady Macbeth for her boundless ambition. She was a grind, scold, harpy, shrew, priss, teacher’s pet, killjoy—you get the idea. She was repeatedly called a bitch (as in: “How do we beat the … ”) and a buster of balls. Tucker Carlson deemed her “castrating, overbearing, and scary” and said, memorably, “Every time I hear Hillary Clinton speak, I involuntarily cross my legs.”

<SNIP>

Palin was recast as the charmer, the glider, the dim beauty queen, the kind of woman who floats along on a little luck and the favor of men. In a recent issue of The New Yorker, Jane Mayer recounted how a handful of conservative Washington thinkers became besotted with Palin during a trip to Alaska and subsequently began to promote her in Washington: The National Review’s Jay Nordlinger described the governor as “a former beauty-pageant contestant, and a real honey, too,” Bill Kristol called her “my heartthrob,” and Fred Barnes noted she was “exceptionally pretty.” While it’s obviously not Palin’s fault that men find her attractive, it is fair to criticize her for campaigning on a platform of charm rather than substance. In what Michelle Goldberg called a “brazen attempt to flirt [her] way into the good graces of the voting public,” she waved and winked and smiled—even during the debate—and called herself “just your average hockey mom.” (Never mind that it’s impossible to imagine a male candidate mentioning fatherhood as the source of his readiness to be the nation’s second-in-command.) Her running mate called her “a direct counterpoint to the liberal feminist agenda for America,” and her “Joe Six-Pack” fans seemed to appreciate her nonthreatening approach. To quote a former truck driver named Larry Hawkins who was interviewed by the Times at a Palin rally: “They bear us children, they risk their lives to give us birth, so maybe it’s time we let a woman lead us.”

<SNIP>

(A)mong the darker revelations of this election is the fact that the vice-grip of female stereotypes remains suffocatingly tight. On the national political stage and in office buildings across the country, women regularly find themselves divided into dualities that are the modern equivalent of the Madonna-whore complex: the hard-ass or the lightweight, the battle-ax or the bubblehead, the serious, pursed-lipped shrew or the silly, ineffectual girl. It is exceedingly difficult to sidestep this trap.

And it's not going to get any easier because the die has been cast.

Miriam Makeba, 1932 - 2008

Nelson Mandela pays tribute:

"The sudden passing of our beloved Miriam has saddened us … For many decades, starting in the years before we went to prison, MaMiriam featured prominently in our lives and we enjoyed her moving performances. When she went into exile she continued to make us proud as she used her worldwide fame to focus attention on the abomination of apartheid. Her music inspired a powerful sense of hope in all of us. She was a mother to our struggle and to the young nation of ours.

"It was fitting that her last moments were spent on a stage, enriching the hearts and lives of others - and again in support of a good cause."

I chose this clip not because of the music but because it shows what she stood for.

"I never understood why I couldn't come home. I never committed any crime."

Prisoners of war

Via Feministing, a scene is from Ironed Jawed Angels, an 2004 HBO film about the suffrage movement in the U.S.

IRON JAWED ANGELS recounts for a contemporary audience a key chapter in U.S. history: in this case, the struggle of suffragists who fought for the passage of the 19th Amendment. Focusing on the two defiant women, Alice Paul (Hilary Swank) and Lucy Burns (Frances O'Connor), the film shows how these activists broke from the mainstream women's-rights movement and created a more radical wing, daring to push the boundaries of political protest to secure women's voting rights in 1920. Breathing life into the relationships between Paul, Burns and others, the movie makes the women feel like complete characters instead of one-dimensional figures from a distant past.

Although the protagonists have different personalities and backgrounds - Alice is a Quaker and Lucy an Irish Brooklynite - they are united in their fierce devotion to women's suffrage. In a country dominated by chauvinism, this is no easy fight, as the women and their volunteers clash with older, conservative activists, particularly Carrie Chapman Catt (Angelica Huston). They also battle public opinion in a tumultuous time of war, not to mention the most powerful men in the country, including President Woodrow Wilson (Bob Gunton). Along the way, sacrifices are made: Alice gives up a chance for love, and colleague Inez Mulholland (Julia Ormond) gives up her life.

The women are thrown in jail, with an ensuing hunger strike making headline news. The women's resistance to being force-fed earns them the nickname "The Iron Jawed Angels." However, it is truly their wills that are made of iron, and their courage inspires a nation and changes it forever.

The film is on DVD.

More information about their struggle, and that of the other women who fought for the right to vote, is here (PDF).

Women who marched for the right to vote were arrested, starved, force-fed, beaten, tortured.

This is the kind of thing they endured. It comes from an email about the movie:

Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'

They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cell mate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack.

Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote.

For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their
food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.

When I talk with women who say they can't be bothered to vote, or they don't know enough about the issues, I wish they were more aware that all this happened less than a century ago.

Again: Many battles have been won but the war for equality is not yet over.

Sister Suffragette Sing Along

What the doctor ordered

This was not the week for to be so far from the keyboard. But he explosion of outrage surrounding Dr. Henry Morgentaler's appointment to the Order of Canada -- a nomination long overdue -- is still echoing through the mediasphere. Now the "fetus fetishists,'' as my friends over at Rose's Place call them, are organizing a mass protest in Ottawa.

Well, that's their right. Better demonstrations than firebombs.

Which brings me to today's column, on the subject of anti-abortion terrorism and my fears of its resurgence. Here's some of what I wrote:

Consider how anti-abortion rhetoric has been heating up.

Last fall, it began with the introduction to Parliament of Conservative MP Ken Epp's bill to "protect" fetuses from violence.

In January, it escalated as Canada marked the 20th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision – R. v. Morgentaler – which gave women access to abortion.

Now it's in the red zone, with the vehement reaction to Tuesday's appointment of Dr. Henry Morgentaler to the Order of Canada.

The abortion provider deserves the honour. He fought, through a jail term, death threats and even the destruction of one of his clinics, so that Canadian women could safely terminate their pregnancies.

Otherwise it would be coat hangers and Drano.

Not that those who consider the Order of Canada, to use Toronto Archbishop Thomas Collins' term, "debased" now that Morgentaler has finally earned it, care much about women's well-being – except to assert that those of us who have abortions suffer emotionally for the rest of our ruined lives.

Paradoxically, most pro-lifers would accede to terminating pregnancies caused by rape or incest – as if some "unborn children" are more worthy than others.

Abortion, they say, just shouldn't be something women use for retroactive birth control.

Yes, well, that's what we do. Drop round to the clinic every other month for some gut-wrenching pain because it's so much easier than popping the pill. Bad girls.

Better we bear our children in shame and poverty than do what many of the men who impregnated us usually do. That is, go on without any consequence to life, womb and independence.

If you think I am kidding check the sorts of comments making the rounds on the blogs – and even on mainstream media sites.

Not that anybody is calling for terrorist attacks, like when Dr. Garson Romalis was shot in the leg in Vancouver in 1994 or when Dr. Hugh Short of Ancaster, Ont., took a bullet in the arm in 1995 or when Dr. Jack Fainman got hit in the shoulder in Winnipeg in 1997.

These ambushes are far more common in the U.S. – and the suspected shooter is a convicted killer from south of the border – where doctors are assassinated. There, so-called "pro-life" groups cite the Bible as justification for violence.

"The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked." So sayeth Psalms 58:10 and the Virginia-based Army of God.

Thankfully, nobody in Canada seems to be quite so blood-boiled.

Still, there are concerns. For example, there has been massive protest against Epp's bill in Quebec.

He insists that C-484 won't limit abortion rights, but he might have tipped his true intentions on Tuesday when he questioned the impartiality of Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, who chairs the Order of Canada advisory council. Is he concerned that abortion cases might soon land on her desk, thanks to his bill? You know, the one that – cough, cough – has nothing to do with abortion?

C-484 is on its way to passage – and to blowing away women's right to choose.

So no need to worry about firebombings of abortion clinics here.

It's just women who could be terrorized.

My blogging buds at Dr. Dawg and Accidental Deliberations have some cogent thoughts on how Epp is betraying his intentions on C-484. And my Star colleague Chantal Hebert has a great column on why Dr. Morgentaler is worthy.

To this day, it is hard to think of a Charter ruling that is as prominent in the annals of Canadian women's rights as the Morgentaler decision. He should no more be consigned to the closets of history than the activists who forcefully broke new constitutional ground to champion same-sex, minority language or native rights.

But I'll give Sooey the last word:

Hey, all you kids out there, the Order of Canada has never been something that unites us rather than divides us. It's usually just a nod to members of the wealthy elite in this country. Awarding it to Dr. Morgentaler is overdue, but it's still nice to know that real political activism can sometimes, if rarely, make a difference in this country.

Power to the people.

 

F-Bombs

Regular readers here know that I am a tremendous fan of Feministing, which has been on my blogroll since Broadsides was launched. Founded by Jessica Valenti, it's one of my top go-to sites for the snarkiest in feminist news and views. I would link to it more often but for the fact that ''feminist'' is not the only f-word it uses and The Star, a family paper, frowns on that sort of thing.

(BTW: On Monday, I was REALLY dying to post a YouTube video of an HBO special starring the late George Carlin ranting about how pro-lifers are anti-woman, but the late, great comedian dropped so many four-letter words that it was out of the question. I did put it on my Facebook page. If you want to see it, Google is your friend.)

Anyway, the prolific, talented and eggsy Valenti is in town tonight to promote her latest book, He's a Stud, She's a Slut, and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know, and to join in a panel discussion with ''with local feminist superheroes Jessica Yee, Sarah Wolf, and Laurel Mitchell.'' It's all sponsored by the shameless Shameless magazine and in support of the Miss G_ Project for Equity in Education, ''a grassroots young feminist organization working to combat all forms of oppression in and through education, including sexism, homophobia, racism and classism.''

For more info on the event, click here if you're on Facebook. Or go here.

Here's a snip from my column about Valenti, printed in the paper today.

He's the boss, she's a bitch. He's independent, she's pathetic. He's childless, she's selfish. He's a Romeo, she's a stalker. He's angry, she's PMSing.

These are just some of the gender inequities in Jessica Valenti's new book, He's a Stud, She's a Slut and 49 Other Double Standards Every Woman Should Know.

Pay close attention to how men and women are commonly characterized – come on down, Hillary Clinton! – and you can't miss the so-ingrained-most-can't-even-hear-them-any-more slurs against women.

"After I wrote my first book (Full Frontal Feminism), I got a lot of amazing responses," says Valenti, 29, on the phone from her home in Queens, New York, where she lives, writes and edits the popular blog she founded four years ago, feministing.com.

"I saw what resonated most with women of all ages, the everyday inequities, the everyday slights that really affected them, that made them understand why feminism is so important, that make women go `Wow, that is sexism!'"

All these gung-ho third-wave feminists gladden the heart of an old second-waver like moi.

That's because, rather than run from the f-word while benefiting from the hard-won battles for equal rights, these women embrace it.

"I call it `I'm-not-a-feminist-but' syndrome," explains Valenti. "It's like `I'm not a feminist but I think it's terrible that we don't have equal pay yet. I'm not a feminist but I think that women should have access to birth control without having problems at their pharmacies.'

"The conservative movement and the backlash against feminism have been extremely successful and smart in labelling feminism with all these ridiculous stereotypes that really serve a specific and strategic purpose. If young women believe that feminism is for man-haters, is uncool, is ugly, then why would they ever want to identify with it?"

Why indeed?

When I was Valenti's age, feminists were labelled bra-burning, hairy-legged beasts that could never catch a husband.

Some things never change.

"They have been pushing the same nonsense for so many years and we continue to fall for them," she agrees. "I tell readers they're trying to pull one over on you. They're hoping that you're going to fall for it."

Really, it's been --what? -- some 40 years since the second wave really took off in the late 60s and "they'' are still trying to keep women down.

Who are "they?'' Everybody from Republican presidential contender John McCain who has flip-flopped his position on women's reproductive rights to Canada's Conservatives who are trying to pass Bill C-484 which opens the door to our losing the right to choose here. ''They'' are the misogynist commentators who got away with sexist slurs on Hillary Clinton. ''They'' are the people who blame ''femi-nazis'' for the divorce rate, the pregnancy rate among teenagers (hello? take away access to contraception and what do you think will happen?), the crime rate and the declining birth rate. "They'' are the Church(es) who refuse to recognize what Jesus did, that women are equal to men. ''They'' are the right (religious or otherwise), the Islamists, the many patriarchal cultures, societies, religions and institutions threatened by women who are strong, independent, mobile, not chained to the bed, the nursery and the stove.

''They'' are also the corporations that rake in billions by making women feel fat, ugly and old, so that they spend their 70 cents on the male wage dollar on clothes and cosmetics they don't need so that they don't merely looked groomed or stylish, but so that they feel human.

As Valenti discussed, all those tanning parlours and nail salons sprouting up in your neighbourhood are just the latest manifestation of that.

So good on Valenti and her Feministing sisters who blog for fun but not for profit.

Long may they bitch.

 

Oh Henry!

The Morgenthaler Decision -- the Supreme Court judgment that decriminalized abortion in Canada -- is 20 years old this month.

On the eve of the anniversary, the indomitable Dr. Henry Morgenthaler talks to The National Review of Medicine:

Q - Canada's current government is, shall we say, ambivalent about abortion. Are you worried they might try to restrict access?

A - They're not ambivalent, they're hostile! Yeah, I was worried about the Conservatives coming to power, but although they are known to be hostile I don't think they will risk alienating 80% of Canadians who believe in freedom of choice.

Hard to believe that, less than a generation ago, women had absolutely no choice.

Which is why Chief Justice Dickson wrote:

Forcing a woman, by threat of criminal sanction to carry a foetus to term unless she meets certain criteria unrelated to her own priorities and aspirations, is a profound interference with a woman's body and thus a violation of her security of the person.

Incidentally, the illustration is from henry, a documentary by Dara Bratt. It had a limited theatrical release here last year. It deserves wider distribution, especially this month.

Morgenthaler went to prison to defend our reproductive rights and our dominion over our bodies. 

This should be a big media deal. 

Let's see if they even notice.

A tip of the cloche to Lilith Attack.