Alternating…

Between being furious, and wanting to throw up, with the gamut of emotions in between. Why? Because I cannot get out of my head the photos of those young (and not so young) people, men and women, wearing “Sarah Palin Is A C–t” t-shirts at a Philly rally this weekend. Honestly, I cannot stop thinking about it since I saw Truthteller’s story — see “The Obama Campaign, Role Models, Patterned Violence [UPDATED with Photographs of Misogynistic Obamabots at Palin Protest in Philadelphia]” — as well as SusanUnPC’s, and Uppity Woman’s excellent posts at No Quarter on this. I will not have those photos on my blog, though, so if you want to see about what I am talking, go to one of the stories here at No Quarter. Or Obama’s site – they had it there, too (“had” may be the operative word). Ahem.

I’m furious at these young people, naturally. For thinking that calling the Governor of Alaska a despicable terms is not just fine, but “cool.” Every photo, they are just BEAMING with pride at how clever they are. And why? Because they know they can. Because they have seen that they can say whatever they want to about women because the DNC and the MSM have.

I’m furious that it has become acceptable this Election Season to treat women with such blatant hatred. These people are not calling Gov. Palin a “c–t” because she is a Republican, after all – they are calling her one because she is a WOMAN. They did exactly the same thing to Clinton, so no party affiliation claims will wash here. This is flat out misogyny.

I am furious that it has become more important to try to embarrass Gov. Palin with “Troopergate” than to mention that her former brother-in-law had a Domestic Violence Restraining Order , in addition to all of the OTHER issues with him (drunk driving in a patrol car, tasering his stepson, etc.). Rather, the desire to “take her down a peg” was more important than to acknowledge that this is one violent, abusive man who should not BE a law enforcement officer.

I am furious at the men and women in the Democratic Party, people in my own family with daughters of their own, standing by while their Party began a systematic attack on women – standing by and saying NOTHING. I think we all remember the youtube videos of the horrible things said about Senator Clinton this season, not just by the media (HERE’S one), but by members of CONGRESS (Cohen, Jackson, Jr., et. al). Even worse, though, were the ones who were happy that Clinton was being treated like this because it meant their candidate was going to be the nominee (despite Clinton continuing to win big state after big state after big state). Evidently, they didn’t care WHAT it took to get Obama there – attack Clinton for being a woman, steal votes, and claim RACISM every time anyone tried to ask a question of their candidate. If they had supported their candidate and spoken out about this horrible, sexist treatment, that would be one thing, but they did not. Speaker Pelosi even stated in an interview with Greta van Susteren that she had been “too busy” to notice the level of vitriol directed at Clinton, and women, this year.

I am furious that I have worked so hard for women’s equality to see it thrown away so cavalierly. All of those marches, all of those protests, all of the work, the pain, the dedication, to have it just disappear in the blink of an eye. Even worse, to have women’s organizations like NOW support the very candidate who used misogyny to get the nomination is just staggering.

I am saddened that this is the country in which my nieces and grand-nieces will be growing up, where they can be called the filthiest of names just because they are female. And my nephews and grand-nephews will grow up thinking this is perfectly acceptable behavior because in both cases, their PARENTS allowed this to happen. (And for my family who work in universities, go look at those kids in the photos and tell me they are not college-aged kids. These are the people YOU are teaching, and look at what they think is acceptable political discourse.) I wanted better for them than what I had to deal with growing up. Now it seems that they will have it at least as hard – they may have more employment opportunities, but they will know they are not held in the same regard as men. They will know they are considered less than, not as good as, just sex objects for, men.

Honestly, I am alternating between raging at what my former Party has become, that so many people in my life will support it anyway, and weeping for what is happening to women in this country. This is not what I wanted for my nieces and grand-nieces, my sister and cousins, my mother, my aunts, myself. This is not what I expect from my country. It bears repeating: THEY ARE NOT WEARING THESE T-SHIRTS BECAUSE PALIN IS A REPUBLICAN BUT BECAUSE SHE IS A WOMAN.

So when your daughters come home from school, and toss out the c-word, or the b-word, you can thank yourselves for supporting a party that treats women like crap. Thanks shitloads.

If, goddess forfend, Barack Obama wins (read: steals) this election, I guess he will have a record: he, along with the DNC, will have not just set back race relations fifty years, they will have set back the Women’s movement 50 years, too.