Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

She-Devil

Marie Cocco – Misogyny I Won’t Miss – washingtonpost.com
I won’t miss reading another treatise by a man or woman, of the left or right, who says that sexism has had not even a teeny-weeny bit of influence on the course of the Democratic campaign. To hint that sexism might possibly have had a minimal role is to play that risible “gender card.”

Now that John Edwards has come out in support of Barack Obama, it seems likely that other super delegates will also soon be announcing their support. For Hilary Clinton, it’s all over but the crying.

I have to admit that I’m one of those people who tend to dismiss many women’s complaints about sexism as mere whining. Buck up! Take command of your life and stop kvetching about the stupidity of a few Neanderthals! Sexism has never been a defining issue in my own life (…as far as I know… hm…), so I expect that it hasn’t really been a big issue in anyone else’s life either. Sure, all the “bitch” and “whore” and “cunt” jokes about Hillary Clinton are lame — but that’s all they are. Lame. They’re not really influencing anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together. Right?

Maybe. Maybe not.

It’s undeniable that a message you hear over and over and over again is going to affect your way of thinking about a thing. Even when you know the message is wrong on some level, it still affects you.

I will freely admit that I’ve always found Hillary Clinton a bit annoying. But why? I have to ask myself: If Clinton’s personality and manner of speaking were coming from a male, would I find him as irritating? I honestly don’t know — and that’s reason for serious concern.

Most of us have biases of one sort or another. Some subtle, some grotesque. Perhaps I do have a subtle bias against other women.

Ha! “Perhaps”! I’m lying to you friends. I am definitely biased against other women. I find many other women tiresome and silly. They seem incapable of deep thought. Not all, of course. I’ve been blessed to know several very intelligent women. Many, though… Which is not to say they aren’t good people. Just that I wouldn’t trust them with important decisions.

So there it is. My bias. And it’s so firmly planted in my psyche that it’s a real exercise for me to consider that it might not be true.

Sigh.

Obviously, we’ve all got a long way to go.

I need to work on my bias against white women. The people of West Virginia need to work on their bias against black men.

And black women? They’ve got the longest wait of all.