Culture Vulture on the Wing

Election time, the Internet and Hillary Clinton

By C.S. GILBERT

“America’s first female president, brought to you by . . . sexism!”

Say whaaat? No, really: Will sexism elect Hillary? This is the question posed by author and reviewer Jessica Valenti, who is the author of four books on feminism and a contributing editor at the Nation, in consideration of a book titled Hillary Rodham Clinton at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver (Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press).

According to Valenti, social media can make or break the 2016 presidential campaign. “This social-media power wasn’t available to feminists during Clinton’s first run. Three months after she announced her candidacy in 2007, Twitter broke 60,000 tweets a day; now there are more than 500 million tweets a day from more than 200 million active users. Tumblr was barely a year old in 2008, and Facebook had just hit its first 100 million users. Today, it has more than 1 billion.”

Valenti reports that online takedowns of misogyny play a huge part in women’s political lives — and their votes. Just recall Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) and his comments about “legitimate rape,” she reminds us. Or the conservative smearing of Sandra Fluke after she was not allowed to testify at a House hearing on insurance coverage for birth control. Or when Rick Santorum donor Foster Friess suggested to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that all it took was for “the gals” to put aspirin “between their knees” as a form of birth control.

Of course, feminists can’t rely entirely on the G.O.P. shooting itself in the foot, she warns. Feminists have to continue doing what we’ve recently succeeded at: Exposing the damaging impact Republican policies have on women — limiting health choices, impeding pay equity, taking a “boys will be boys” attitude toward crimes such as domestic assault and sexual assault, aka “legitimate” rape.

Still, something tells me that conservatives won’t be able to help themselves. U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was subjected to sexist, disparaging remarks about her weight, apparently when pregnant. These were men in their 60s, 70s, 80s, she explained; they didn’t mean to be offensive. There were also – um — presumably positive comments about her appearance; she was called “the hottest member of the Senate.”

     To be fair, it’s surely true that being handsome doesn’t hurt male candidates or legislators (Are there any? Of course there are. Shame on me.). But I can honestly report that, when discussing the merits of a candidacy, I’ve never, ever heard women base evaluations on who’s “hot.” Marco Rubio is good looking, but feminists (and remember the definition: Anyone, female or male, who believes in equality under law between men and women) know his beauty is only skin deep. If in this election cycle you’re looking for a Florida politician who’s beautiful inside and out, I’d nominate Joe Garcia. I’m not kidding. This is a good, good man. If the Koch brothers manage to buy Garcia’s seat in Congress for an ill-tempered school board member from Miami-Dade, it will be the Keys’ serious, possibly irreparable loss.

Has the G.O.P had enough foot-shooting and foot-in-mouth disease? One would imagine so. But the New York Times reported last summer that Republicans are planning an anti-Hillary strategy that will “focus a spotlight on Mrs. Clinton’s age.”

I can’t wait.

That’s all for now. Gotta fly!

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