The lead story in today’s electronic edition of the New York Times, is headlined “Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright Scold Young Women Backing Bernie Sanders.”
Believe me, I get it. I was raised a feminist and have proudly called myself one since the late 1960s (though, I suspect Steinem and Albright wouldn’t allow this straight man to own the title). The US has an embarrassingly low percentage of female elected officials and corporate chiefs. And I do believe, absolutely, that more women in government would not only be fair, but would also result in better policy outcomes.
The problem here is how far these “feminist icons” (as the Times calls them) go. Albright more or less condemns young female Bernie supporters to eternal damnation: “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help women.” When it comes to career mentoring, protection from spousal abuse, and fighting against discrimination, she’s got a point. But she is saying that a female body ought to be the sole criterion for political decision-making.
Steinem’s attack is even worse. In an interview with Bill Maher, the inventor of modern feminism said that young women are only backing Sanders because his rallies are where to find young men. Since you are unlikely to even believe this happened, I’ll repeat it: Gloria Steinem basically said that young women are incapable of intelligent thought and analysis, but rather are driven only by their hormones in pursuit of men, which is why they’re backing an old man over an old woman.
This shit is ugly and insulting, and not only to young women. The insult is to all of us who actually care about policy and the kind of world we want to live in. Your blogger loves Bernie Sanders, not because he has a penis, but because he represents my values.
There’s a similar phenomenon here in the MD-8 congressional race, where Kathleen Matthews – absent any legislative background or service to the community – is running on her gender against several candidates with actual philosophies and records of service.
©2016 Keith Berner
