Does the manic embrace of women for the Sex and the City movie have any correlation to the downfall of the Clinton campaign? This is an interesting question that I've seen posed in a few spots, on Slate a few days ago, and then yesterday in Judith Warner's Domestic Disturbances column in the New York Times (which, for the record, I'm a giant fan of). I'm one of those fuzzy feminists whom hard-core Feminists think will be the downfall of our lot - I'm looking forward to watching the movie, as I've enjoyed watching Sex and the City on television for years now. I'm backed Obama the entire time, too - a lot of Feminists have suggests I am the problem here - unable to support my own, blind the the misogyny of a society that repackages traditional patriarchy by moving it to New York City, and putting the Stepford Wives in Manilo Blaniks. But living in 2008 is messy. My womens studies books and all the rest of it - life, popular culture - don't seem to be addressing the same situations sometimes. I refuse to cede one pleasure only to remain faithful to the other, or believe that women who enjoy Sex and the City are "what's wrong with the world" and are to blame for Hilary's unsuccessful bid for President. We need to take seriously the misogyny that Hillary Clinton faced in her campaign, as well as the undeniable appeal Sex and the City has for women of many demographics and look for the real world feminism (if not True Feminism) in that.
* Women's Media Center montage: Sexist media coverage of the Clinton Campaign.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Bitch'n in the Kitch'n
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2 comments:
I think Hillary Clinton did face misogyny that was greatly magnified by the particular baggage she brings as the wife of Bill Clinton. Because hatred of all things Clinton is a very popular sport in the USA, including in many journalistic circles, this created room for people to "vent" latent misogyny that they'd not get away with in a non-Clinton context. That's my view.
There's nothing wrong with liking Sex & The City. There's nothing inherently anti- or un-feminist about it.
Obama supports women's rights. He supports abortion rights and pay equality. There's no conflict between feminism and Obama that I can see.
Through all the crap that has flown between the Obama and Clinton campaigns and their supporters, I think we can all be proud that the Democrats put forward these candidates and supported them so well. No matter what, one of them was going to win and the other was going to lose. It would take some saintliness for the losing side not to grouse about sexism/racism depending on the case. But I really think all this stuff will be forgotten soon.
Now on to defeating McSame!!!
So now I want to see a blog on the actual viewing of "Sex and the City!"
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