Quote:
Originally Posted by Sleeping in EQ
Women from across the political spectrum have their femaleness used against them. The media dwell more on their appearance and perceived feminity (or lack thereof). Ann Coulter's Adam's apple, Katherine Harris' man hands, Monica Lewinsky's weight, Paula Jones' big hair, the color of Hillary's pant suit--it never ends. And I'm not even getting into the PMS cracks or descriptions of men as "assertive" and women as "bitchy." People (men and women both, actually) are more apt to play the gender expectation card on women they don't like--but it gets played. Sure, men occasionally get taken to task in similar ways, but it isn't as frequent or as intense.
The CBers conservativism doesn't make them advance such criticisms, but it does go pretty far in explaining why certain women are their targets.
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I hope that no one thought I was defending anyone on CB, nor am I suggesting that women in politics don't get criticized about their appearance in ways that men don't. The truth is, I do agree that CBers fear a powerful liberal woman but I would not make the leap that how those extremists over there feel is true of conservatives in general. I don't think anyone made that leap, I was just responding to what I was subjectively inferring.
I do still think, however, that the benefits and disadvantages of being a woman in politics very nearly even out and that (as you say) when they are targeted on a gender basis it is across the political spectrum.