Women and Politics

Thanks to Jessica Wakeman at The Frisky for reporting this story! It seems Carly Fiorina, who recently announced her intention to run against Barbara Boxer for her Senate seat in California, has already begun her attacks.

Disappointingly, her first jab at Boxer involves gender and isn’t based on any real issues:

“Barbara Boxer … disrespectfully demanded a Brigadier General refer to her as “Senator” instead of “ma’am” during a recent Senate hearing. I’m sure you’ll agree that Boxer’s arrogance and disrespect for our nation’s military leaders is way out of line.”

Fiorina was referring to the way blown-out-of-proportion “incident” where Sen. Boxer asked to be referred to as Senator instead of Ma’am. I hate to see another woman attacking Boxer for making a perfectly appropriate request, which wouldn’t have been an issue if it had come from a man.

While I should be psyched to see a Senatorial race between two women, it almost makes me want to jump into a hole and pull the hole in after me. I envision the dialogue becoming sexist and, of course, being spun as some kind of “political cat fight” by the media.

I truly hope this won’t be the case. I hope these female candidates will stick to the issues and have an intellectual debate, not sinking to cheap or gender-based attacks. (Especially since Fiorina spoke out against the sexism Palin experienced last election cycle).

But this preliminary comment doesn’t bode well for that scenario. And even if the candidates leave gender alone, we all know the media will be there to make the sexist remarks for everyone. Batten down the hatches, folks—this should be an interesting race.

I was saddened to hear about the recent sexist attacks against Martha Coakley, Olympia Snowe, and Susan Collins.

As a former Congressional candidate, I know exactly how it feels to be attacked simply for being a woman. I never realized just how sexist politics is until I decided to run for office.

My local paper ran an unacceptable quote about me on the front page during my race. Now, I’ve decided to tell my story on camera to bring these kinds of misogynistic attacks to light.

Click here to hear my story and help us put a stop to sexist attacks.

Help us fight sexism in politics today: we’ve provided the emails of all four recent offending members of the media so you can contact them and speak out against their offensive sexist rhetoric.

Michael Savage: “Jezebel is Olympia Snowe.”

Jim Quinn: “‘Stupid Girl’ by Garbage ‘probably fits pretty well.’”

Rush Limbaugh: “Dare I say, Women, damn it.”

‘Tis the season for misogyny, it seems. These are recent comments made by sexist radio show hosts about Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

What did they do to illicit such sexist rhetoric? They had an opinion about health care reform. And, apparently, having a different opinion than these radio hosts means you get attacked—not for your views—but for your gender.

Instead of discussing the reasons why he disagreed with Olympia Snowe’s Senate Finance Committee vote on health care reform, Michael Savage decided it would be better to liken her to a female devil:

“If ever the devil was born without a pair of horns, it was you. Jezebel, it was you.”

Savage played this line of the song “Jezebel” by Frankie Laine, and then added, “Jezebel is Olympia Snowe.”

Let me be clear: I’m not saying that no one dare ever disagree with or even attack a woman elected official for her policy or votes. But if you’re going to, at least do it in an intelligent and somewhat respectful way. Basically, don’t simply insult her for being a woman.

I know respectful isn’t the mantra for these particular radio hosts, but that doesn’t mean they should get away with it. The more people hear misogynistic language used, the more we perpetuate the acceptance of this kind of harmful sexism.

Click here to email these sexist radio hosts and tell them their language is unacceptable.

I guess a historic candidacy deserves a historic level of sexism. As potentially the first woman Senator from Massachusetts, Martha Coakley is undoubtedly in for a world of good old fashioned sexism in politics.

And thanks to a Boston Herald columnist, Martha Coakley has already been served her first large helping of it.

Recently, Martha declined to answer a campaign finance question during a press conference. Unfortunately, Boston Herald columnist Lauren Beckam Falcone saw this as an opportunity to hit Martha with sexist rhetoric, calling her an “ice queen” and “mean girl.” And, maybe my favorite, “Mean Martha.”

Does anyone call President Obama names when he declines a reporter’s question? Or even any male politician for that matter?

Aside from the pure absurdity of the use of middle school insults (and Glee phrases?) to describe a Senatorial candidate, perhaps the most disheartening aspect of this attack is that the name-calling is coming from a woman. A woman who tries to use the same sexism she’s employing to draw pity upon the fact that a female reporter was treated “as if she’s invisible.”

I get that a columnist has to be “edgy” and “creative” in their writing…but, Ice Queen, really? Isn’t there a line somewhere between a catchy post and tearing down your own gender?

As Women for Coakley points out, these kinds of incidents don’t just hurt Martha Coakley—they are detrimental to all women. In response to the column, Women for Coakley decided to focus “on the women whom this incident actually hurts: women who have no newspaper column, no press conferences, no voice.” They go on to write that:

This hurts the single mother with no healthcare who needs her viewpoints represented in healthcare debates. This hurts the female office worker who hears men in the next cubicle laughing about the headline and wonders how she can possibly ask to be paid as much as her male colleagues in such an environment. This hurts the female engineer who wonders how she can ask her co-workers to tone down the sexual innuendo of office conversations and the unwelcome comments about her figure without being labeled an “ice queen.” This hurts the idealistic teen girl who is inspired to study government and to someday run for office, but doesn’t know whether our society really accepts powerful women.

Through this column, the Boston Herald and Lauren Beckam Falcone have effectively told women and girls that there is no place for them in elected office because if they run, they’ll be ridiculed. Ridiculed not even for their policy or ideas, but merely for being a woman.

How long will we as a society allow these kinds of archaic sexist insults to continue? Ladies, haven’t we come further than this?