Hillary Clinton is the first female major party presidential candidate in the United States. While her having secured the Democratic party’s nomination is an amazing step forward for equality, it’s also important to be aware of the type of sexism Clinton has faced during her public career.
Last month, political news site The National Memo released a mashup video showing just some of the sexist questions and comments Clinton has faced during her time as First Lady, U.S. Senator, Secretary of State and presidential candidate.
Regardless of your politics, watching nearly 40 years criticism over Clinton’s “likability”, and her hair, is hard to stomach.
The video begins with an interview from 1979 when Clinton was the first lady of Arkansas. A male journalist says, “One gets the impression that you’re really not all that interested in state dinners and teas and garden parties.”
And it’s not just men lobbing this drivel at her. In a clip from 1992 a female newscaster asks her whether she believes a first lady can be “both popular and opinionated.”
It get so much worse from there.
In a 1993 interview, Katie Couric asked Clinton, who was First Lady at the time, why she is compared to Lady MacBeth even going as far as to ask if she walks around the White House saying ‘out damn spot’.
Over and over again, Clinton is called “unlikable”, “shrill” and “untrustworthy”.
In a clip from 2008, a Fox News presenter said, “Men won’t vote for Hillary Clinton because she reminds them of their nagging wives.” Another pundit felt the need to add, “When Hillary Clinton speaks, men hear ‘take out the garbage’”.
Top Comments
I find her cold, unlikeable and utterly dishonest. Like half of the the US does. It isn't her fault, but her voice is raspy and unpleasant. Her sense of entitlement is incredible - being married to Bill Clinton is what got her where she is. Without Bill, she would not be a presidential candidate. So where's the actual feminist achievement in Hillary's story? Add to that her disgraceful treatment of the young intern, Monica Lewinsky, whom Hillary continued to blame rather than her errant husband. This is just not a tale to celebrate, sorry Mamamia!
From what I have read over the years, Bill has the charm whilst Hillary is supposedly the brains of the relationship. Her sticking to Bill after he lied and cheated on her for years doesn't send a particularly empowering message to young women. Vanity Fair did an article on how Hillary managed to snaffle the Senate seat for New York when Daniel Moynihan retired. It certainly did not put Hillary in a good light.
She's a stereotypical Establishment politician as you described. But as FLOTUS and Secretary of State she achieved quite a lot to her credit.