The imaging is sexist not because women politicians are attacked (male politicians get attacked all the time—there’s plenty of vitriol to go around). It has to do with the ways in which political women are attacked.
Women candidates are much more likely than their male counterparts to be characterized as crazy because women historically have been viewed as less rational then men. Notably, when male politicians are derided, it’s their manhood, rather than their rationality, that is called into question.
Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton.
This is some seriously multi-leveled satire. They try to take on 2 kinds of sexism: the crap you get if you subvert feminine stereotypes (shrill, cankles, boner-shrinker, etc.) and the crap you get if you adhere to them (MILF, mommy, beautiful so stupid, etc.) and present them to a mainstream audience. It’s an impossible damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t double standard.
I’m not sure how many other people will get that from watching this, they pour it on thick — but then, that’s how satire works. Some people just laugh at the impressions and not recognize the other level of commentary.
…Aaaand we’re back, just in time to note that, pursuant to Section C8 of the Democratic Party Rules and Procedures, Barack Obama just won the convention’s very carefully choreographed roll-call vote, during which the representatives of many state delegations boasted that their state was better than all the others, until finally Hillary Clinton stepped forward to end the voting and award the nomination to Obama by acclamation, and Nancy Pelosi, who was overseeing the ceremonies, asked those who agreed to say “yay,” and those who disagreed to say “nay,” but cleverly left no time at all for anyone to actually say “nay” before declaring that the motion had been passed, making Obama the official Democratic party nominee, and then everyone burst into tears and they played Love Train on the PA system and everyone was very happy, the end.
…To clean up the mess left by President Bush, we may need two terms of President Clinton and two of President Obama.
But what worries me is that he is seen as unifying by his race while she is seen as divisive by her sex.
What worries me is that she is accused of “playing the gender card” when citing the old boys’ club, while he is seen as unifying by citing civil rights confrontations.
What worries me is that male Iowa voters were seen as gender-free when supporting their own, while female voters were seen as biased if they did and disloyal if they didn’t.
