Easy Targets
By medusa on October 13, 2008 at 10:00 PM in Barack Obama, Equal Pay, Feminism, Obama's Thugs, Sexism, Women, Women and Children
I’m trained in philology–the study of words–and I began to wonder about Obama’s supporters’ favorite word for Sarah Palin, the one we’ve seen on the tee-shirts of men and women: Cunt. Going to my trusty OED, I found a bit of history, which is repeated on the online etymology dictionary. I will paste here, for your interest:
This may be more information than we need but as we see, the word has an ancient history. In the 1970s, feminists such as Tee Corinne, appropriated the word in order to purge it of its offensive meaning. And more recently, Inga Musico’s 1998 book attempted to expunge the nastiness of the term by studying the word’s history.
Clearly though, Obama’s camp, identified in the photos as white and so-called high-information progressives, are not up-to-date on the gender-positive use of the term. In fact, they are clearly clinging to the past, as it says above: the word has been avoided in polite speech since the 15th century.
Of course Hillary was also called this name and no doubt, if they had the chance, Obama’s supporters would (and probably do) call me that name–along with any and all women who won’t be bullied or coerced into voting for someone whom we deem unfit for office. Is it too obvious to point out that misogyny is valorized by the Obama campaign?
I can’t help but think of the young women, those I teach who are beginning their college lives as well as the younger sisters, friends, daughters, granddaughters, of those who enthusiastically call Palin names. Maybe the words don’t stick by themselves–women have been called “bitches” and “hos” in hip hop and music videos for decades now–but certainly the claims that Palin is incompetent and unqualified (and Obama is qualified?), in conjunction with calls for violent retaliation against her (there’s a Facebook group called “I want to hit Sarah Palin in the Face”) sends a loud warning to young women making clear that any attempt at power will be negated by an obscenity, a demeaning of their skills and aptitudes and a threat of violence. That should keep them from trying. See Truthteller’s excellent piece on the violence in Obama’s repertoire here.
You might remember the 1994 book, Reviving Ophelia, which many parents of young girls read hoping to help their daughters successfully navigate the gauntlet of adolescence. The author of the book, psychologist Mary Pipher, coined the term “girl poisoning” to describe what young women confront as they grow up in our society. The Amazon Editorial Review states:
At adolescence, says Mary Pipher, “girls become ‘female impersonators’ who fit their whole selves into small, crowded spaces.” Many lose spark, interest, and even IQ points as a “girl-poisoning” society forces a choice between being shunned for staying true to oneself and struggling to stay within a narrow definition of female.
Other studies state similar findings, and as a teacher, I often observe my female students acting “dumb” or “air-headed” in class but in the privacy of the papers they write, they reveal sophisticated and incisive analysis. It’s an old truism that many young women don’t want to look too smart in front of their classmates, not only the guys in class but also the other girls.
But why am I surprised? Obama will stoop to the lowest level to win. Even if it means codifying misogyny and sexism for his own daughters’ generation.
I’m sure there are others, but the site, Sarah Palin Sexism Watch, includes a worthwhile column titled “What is Sexism?” Scroll down and it’s on the right.
Read other excellent No Quarter posts on the Obama/Media misogyny of 2008:
The Beavis and Butthead school of journalism strikes again
“Unleashed, Palin Makes a Pit Bull Look Tame”
by Ronald Scott
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