WCF President/CEO Sam Bennett on MSNBC’s Hardball
This post was submitted by Jean Qiao, WCF Communications Fellow
In January, WCF President/CEO Sam Bennett was a guest on MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews. Along with NOW President Terry O’Neill, Bennett discussed the sexism and double standards that greatly affected Martha Coakley’s race for Massachusetts Senate.
During the energetic banter, Bennett made it no secret to Matthews all the viewers that double standards still cripple the campaigns of female candidates. Bennett touched upon how the media scrutinized her serious demeanor, being called “ice queen” as well as the media’s response to her opponent’s Cosmopolitan centerfold:
“Bennett: Her opponent, nude male centerfold gets a total pass, and here’s Martha Coakley called an ice queen, if she was a guy, Chris, she would have been called dignified.
Matthews: And if she had done the centerfold?
Bennett: She wouldn’t even have been in the race. It wouldn’t even happen. It would have been a deal-killer for her. It’s about a double standard, it happens all the time.”
Watch Bennett’s engaging conversation with Matthews on WCF’s YouTube channel.
Tags: chris matthews, double standards, female candidates, hardball, martha coakley, massachusetts, MSNBC, NOW, sam bennett, scott brown, Sexism in politics, special election, terry o'neill, WCF President, women candidates
This entry was posted on Friday, March 5th, 2010 at 2:56 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
March 24th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
I was reading the text under the YouTube window above, not fully realizing Sam was talking about Martha Coakley, and not her OWN campaign for Congress in ‘08. I’m saying to myself, “The Lehigh Valley media called Sam an ‘ice queen’?” until I got to “centerfold” aspect at the close of the sentence - knowing that was Brown she was referring to (and the implausibility of Chucky Dent).
I’m sure Sam could have spoken to the issue in her own campaign, but I realize the time constaints might not have allowed it (although if it was true, I believe that personal experience would have been totally appropriate in the context of the discussion). I do believe a factor in Coakley’s failed bid is that historically Democrats are notorious for NOT showing up at the polls.
BTW- I still have Sam’s campaign button that she gave me off her own shirt when I asked if she had any more buttons. The last time that happened was in 1968 when I was admiring a teacher’s button from the “Poor People’s Campaign” (and I was even asking to have it, but boy would that be a priceless button today).