Periodically? Just say monthly, Barack

marjorie says...

Thanks to Feministing for pointing me to this clip of Barack referencing Hillary's "periodic" bouts of "feeling down." There is also an interesting debate on the Feministing post about whether or not this constitutes a sexist approach.





So what does he mean exactly? That Hillary gets crazy when she's pms'ing? My personal opinion is that it shows a latent sexism that is prevalent throughout our society, just as racism is prevalent. If he didn't say it on purpose, then it is simply a classic sexist perspective leaking to the surface. If he said it on purpose, its gender-baiting just as blatantly as any Clinton race-baiting. If you think this isn't serious, let me point you to a comment that my sister made in this post, regarding my niece, who will be voting in the March 4 primary in Texas:

"Imagine my shock when having lunch with my 20 year old daughter Lauren...talking about her getting to vote for the first time....and she comes out and says she could not vote for a woman because "they are too emotional, too compassionate" ....I was horrified..I could'nt believe what I was hearing!.......thank goodness she is voting democrat!"

It also brings to mind what SWOP intern Emma Sandoval, who is near my nieces age, had to put up with on live television from one of our school board members. He charged her with being emotional when she referenced a certain perspective as ludicrous, and this wasn't the first time I have seen him do it...he also used this language at a school board meeting.

We deserve better.