HONOR OUR FOREMOTHERS

Who should women vote for? The answer is: ANYONE THEY WANT TO. But it is important that all women pay homage to the sacrifice of the many women who made the advances of women toward equality possible.

That means that American voters must support Senator Clinton's run for office by insisting that she be treated as they themselves would want to be treated. Women especially should insist on fairness for the woman who is breaking a barrier for all of us. No special favors requested -- just an even playing field.

Women are sexually and religiously humiliated all over the world and in many cases other women condone this or even defend this as "customary".

We all know that politics manifest as word-wars. It seems permission is given by the electorate to attack one's political opponent any which way they choose. Truth need not be a factor of an attack.

Nevertheless, Americans still have a modicum of fairness left and it is to this that we appeal. Is it fair that one candidate is slurred because of her gender while another is protected from slurs by our society?

We are all familiar with the highly derogatory words, sexual overtones and phrases used over the eons that derogate women. This has reached a crescendo over the candidacy of Senator Hillary Clinton. The major agenda of these "Swiftboat-like" tactics is to prevent a woman presidency by appealing to the macho with salacious descriptions, lies and innuendo.

The Repug campaign is never alone in their use and abuse. Pundits gleefully jump on board along with Talkers and some Bloggers to incessantly drag any woman through the mud with the tried and true slurs aimed to frighten off possible voters.

It's not just here that it happens. If you are old enough to remember how former P.M. Margaret Thatcher of Great Britain was chewed up over the years you know how vicious and blatant the sexism can be.

Now imagine that the pundits, media and Blogs went after Barac for his racial characteristics? Hey, don't scream, it used to be customary! Some very horrible things have been said and believed about Blacks throughout history. These have been given life in films, in books and in present day rap lyrics. It wasn't right then and it isn't right now!

Actually, some Bloggers have ventured into the realm of tit for tat -- i.e., if you are going to play the sexist game, we will play the racist game. But listen to the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the media rushing to scream racism as they ignore and contribute to sexism!

"It's not the same thing", they scream in fury, "it's customary to say these nasty things about women, and it's customary to use words with a sexual reference that are derogatory and humiliating to women".

Yeah, it's customary all right. We women hear, see and experience it everyday. Sad to say many of us put up with it thus encouraging even more sexist slurs. Even now there are those women creaming for a blonde whiteboy or a brunette blackboy (oops, can't say "blackboy", can we?) instead of standing up for a woman candidate with the courage to stand up for them.

Most of the reasons women have for disliking Senator Clinton comes from the right wing propaganda machine Talking Points (repeated endlessly by the media) that have been feeding lies about her since Bill Clinton ran for president.

Ask yourself, "Why is it that you know Repugs for the liars they are yet find all their propaganda relating to Hillary Clinton is true?" And check out what honorable, honest people like Representative Charlie Rangel, who really know Hillary, have to say.

Our Foremothers fought for the abolition of slavery. Our Foremothers fought for the right of Blacks to vote. As a result of their fight, Black MEN were allowed to vote.

Women kept on fighting until ALL women were given the right to vote. It's time all women think about the sacrifices made for them by their foremothers and fight for the right for themselves and their daughters to be protected from sexual slurs just as Blacks are protected now from racial slurs.

GenderGappers invite you to support and contribute to this brave woman as we have. http://www.hillaryclinton.com

gapperserve-at-peoplepc.com
http://gendergappers.blogspot.com

2007-015

Copyright 2007 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: gapperserve@peoplepc.com.

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