Obama and the 'Women Question'
For the general election, Obama should pledge to launch an effort to study the intersections of class, gender and race. And he should promise to have a cabinet that reflects the racial, gender and sexual diversity of the United States. He could be the president who begins the eradication of race privilege and male privilege.
That would answer the "women question" and a whole lot more.
Salamishah Tillet is an assistant professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania and co-founder of the non-profit organization, A Long Walk Home, Inc., which uses art therapy and the visual and performing arts to document and to end violence against underserved women and children.
Also on The Root:
Salamishah Tillet wakes up to rape, Keith Josef Adkins flirts with the King, and Veronica Chambers discusses how far $300 can go.
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Obama and the 'Women Question'
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View All Comments »bryony1 at 06/18/2008 1:47:41 AM
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I am very pleased to have read The Root today, because Salamishah Tillet finally gave me the term I've been trying to think of for several years, and that is: " 'a younger generation of 'post-feminist' women." " 'Post-feminist' women" is the term I've been racking my brains for.
I'm sick and tired of hearing younger women repudiate feminism or say that it's no longer needed or, when they run into discrimination, wimpily start their protest with: "I'm not a feminist, but..." Well, why aren't they feminists? Sexism hasn't gone anywhere, any more than racism has. When I've countered with that wonderful, ringing statement: "We kicked down the doors you're walking through" (because in some cases this is true, or else Clinton wouldn't have been in the presidential race), they just snigger because they think anything they get is based entirely on their own merits. It's time they woke up, and maybe hearing the next president tell them will be the alarm clock they need. Ageism plays a role in that attitude, also, however, and our nation hasn't even begun to deal with the issues of older Americans ("seniors" be damned).
By the way, any woman who supported Clinton and will now vote for McCain is going to have to turn in her feminist credentials because she'll be a hypocrite and a fraud. Maybe I'm an anomaly, but as an older feminist I've supported Obama from the beginning. I think he'll make a good president and set this country in a new direction, which I wouldn't trust Clinton to do, and not because she's a woman but because she's a typical politician, has been "in with the in-crowd" too long, and would accept too much of the status quo, regardless of what she's said. Does supporting the man and not the woman in this case make me anti-feminist? No -- it proves I'm no fool.
As for Obama, let's hope indeed that he includes all women in addressing our issues; somebody's got to tell these younger women they have problems left to deal with, just like the rest of us, and anyone who says: "I'm not a feminist, but...." definitely has problems.
HCSCTgirl at 06/12/2008 12:01:28 PM
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Wow, I had no idea that you were so close to Hillary Clinton. You must be to say for certain that the reason that she stayed with her husband was because of political power. Get out of her bedroom. Women stay with cheating men for a myriad of reasons, two of possibly the most important being love and shared children. Her personal dealings with her husband have no bearing on my vote, just as I don't think Kennedy was a horrible man because he cheated. And I seriously can't even respond to your belief that the only true feminists are those that are pro-life because that is absurd. Hilarious. I don't even know why I'm responding to someone who is so off their rocker.
prspevack at 06/10/2008 2:33:37 PM
Comment:
When the presumed Presidental Candidate for the Green Party is confirmed in early July, Cynthia McKinney from Georgia who has more time and experience in the Congress than Obama and Hillary combined, will be able to fill both the race and feminist positions as Presidential Candidate.