"WOMEN HOLD UP
HALF THE SKY"
 That
proverb could be amended today to state -- more than half. Metaphors aside,
right now Peggy Whitson is in command of the International Space Station.
Pamela Melroy commands the shuttle Discovery.
Melroy's co-pilot,
George Samka, who has never served with or for a woman said, "I understand
it's a wonderful thing for a young woman to see Pam flying but in terms
of her, I look at her as an individual with some tremendous skills."
As the evidence
of women's ability increases exponentially, it follows that the foaming
at the mouth misogynists among us are actually helping Senator Hillary
Clinton's campaign by the sheer nastiness of their remarks.
Several times a
week, Tucker Carlson goes ballistic over what he says he cannot understand
ie why would women vote for a candidate just because she is a woman? "Gee,"
he whines, "I never vote for a candidate just because, like me, he
has a penis!" See?
He thinks he is only his genitals. Earth to Tucker: "Be all that you
can be."
Mostly, he has males
on as guests who are willing to pummel both Hillary and the women who admire
her and would vote for her. Claiming that Barack never tries to get votes
because he is an African-American, guest Cliff May asserted that Hillary
is a Vaginal-American and seeks votes from women based on gender.
The all male panel
laughed uproariously at that and protest mail came into MSNBC in truckloads,
many comparing Carlson to Don Imus at his worst. But Carlson is only one
of many sophomoric, sophmoronic, towel snappers who never mentally progressed
beyond the high school locker room.
The report of an
Imus comeback has the boyz thrilled to death. They could always depend
on Imus to pillory Hillary and women in general with film and quotes they
could embellish and play over and over.
They tumble all
over each other to insist that Imus really did nothing wrong and anyway
he apologized and has been punished long enough. These were the same ones
that tut-tutted his blatantly sexist and racist labeling of a woman's'
basketball team -- at the time.
"POLITICO"
reeks of misogynists of both genders as do many other so-called news sources.
The M.O. is the same. They take a sentence out of some quote about Hillary
and portray it as fact to their audience. It's the old, "if you ain't
got the facts, make them up" game.
Wolff Blitzer and
CNN spent most of the time reporting on the Republican debate by showing
what they said about Hillary. Then parley this with advice to Barack that
this was the kind of nasty stuff he should be saying about Hillary.
It is customary
to go after the front runner but the media failed to do this in 2000. Bush
skated while Kerry got berated. It is a mistake for anyone to think that
our media reports the news when it is so obvious that they are actively
engaged on creating and misrepresenting it.
Holding up more
than their share of the sky has made women stronger and smarter. So the
boyz shenanigans are backfiring on them. What
they don't seem to realize is that women internalize those hurtful remarks
against Hillary. They feel the misogyny as surely as if it were directed
at them -- because it is.
gapperserve-at-peoplepc.com
http://gendergappers.blogspot.com
2007-044
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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