A Sexist Comment Is A Sexist Comment, No Matter Who Says It
Last week, a supercut video by The National Memo showing Hillary Clinton on the receiving end of sexist questions asked over 40 years went viral. Many people on Twitter pointed out that a number of those questions were asked by women, and wondered, then, if they could still be classified as sexist.
Indeed, the video shows a female reporter asking Clinton in 1993 if she enjoyed matching table cloths and napkins together, Katie Couric wondering why people compared Clinton to Lady Macbeth that same year, and Barbara Walters asking Clinton in 1996, “Do you think the American people are ready yet to have a first lady who has strong opinions and an agenda?”
Each question is undoubtedly gendered ― they all assume specific things about how a woman is “supposed” to act and behave herself, and each question would sound ridiculous if asked of a man.
So the answer is: yes, women can ask other women sexist questions. And even though women bear the brunt of institutionalized sexism, we can still be sexist.
Women are socialized in the same culture men are, and we learn the exact same lessons about our place in society. We see the same images of white, male presidents in our elementary school classrooms, and notice the same male faces on our dollar bills. It’s safe to say that there has never been a time in history when we’ve culturally debated if the country is “ready” for male opinions. Isn’t the Constitution, which our country was built on, essentially one big document of male opinions?
It would be impossible for women to completely bypass the ideas that oppress us ― that we should be soft-spoken and not aggressive, that our bodies should be maintained in specific ways that appeal to men, that our ultimate aspirations should be to become wives and mothers.
It takes a lot to untangle and challenge cultural messages that are so deeply ingrained. That’s why even Couric and Walters ― successful, barrier-breaking women in their own right ― echoed sexist language about Clinton. One clip shows Couric asking Clinton why people perceive her as “threatening” ― the underlying meaning, of course, is that men were threatened.
When Donald Trump is called sexist or misogynist, his supporters often point to the mere existence of his few female supporters as alleged proof that the nominee couldn’t possibly be either of those things. If he was, wouldn’t all women be condemning him? Again: no. It isn’t surprising that women who haven’t been forced to dissect the many ways we’re punished by gender roles ― and who exist in a society that reinforces those roles ― don’t find anything wrong with Trump’s rhetoric.
Some go so far as to echo the very language the angriest of male Trump supporters use to attack Clinton, which is completely wrapped up in the fact that she’s a woman. (Look no further than the women spotted at the RNC convention purchasing “Hillary Sucks But Not Like Monica” T-shirts.)
It isn’t surprising that they aren’t horrified by Trump’s comments about child-rearing because they, too, have been taught that parenting is a woman’s job and earning money is a man’s. It isn’t shocking that they aren’t repulsed by Trump’s habit of ranking women in terms of f**kability, because messages telling women that our worth lies in our bodies are literally everywhere.
And of course, there are plenty of female Trump supporters who don’t love his language, but haven’t recognized (or, don’t care) how damaging it is to women as a whole.
This is not to blame women for enabling our own oppression, but it’s time we start thinking about why exactly it’s so funny to picture Bill Clinton matching table cloths and napkins, when for his brilliant wife, it was expected.
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I did not pack tissues for this. So I will be entering this era of feminist history with racoon eyes. #DemsInPhilly
— Chloe Angyal (@ChloeAngyal) July 29, 2016
Crying bc of all the things I have been told I could never do as a woman & thinking of the lifetime of this that #Hillary has endured
— Alice Driver (@DriverWrites) July 29, 2016
Goddamn it I wish my mother was alive to see this.
— Ana Marie Cox (@anamariecox) July 29, 2016
**all of the rights** #HRCMakesHistory
— Molly Bangs (@MollyBangs) July 29, 2016
we have a female nominee for president and i don't wanna miss any of her acceptance speech but i really gotta pee, this feels ironic
— Julianne Ross (@JulianneRoss) July 29, 2016
I can't wait to have a President with lipstick on her teeth #DNCinPHL
— Jena Friedman (@JenaFriedman) July 29, 2016
Dang. Hillary got me clearing MY throat. #DNCinPhilly
— Retta (@unfoRETTAble) July 29, 2016
No matter the politics: will not forget hearing "I am my mother's daughter and my daughter's mother" sitting next to my mom, my inspiration
— Chelse D. (@chelseD) July 29, 2016
Fuck that glass ceiling! Burn it to the ground! #DNCinPHL
— Lizz Winstead (@lizzwinstead) July 29, 2016
"After all, when there are no glass ceilings the sky is the limit!" #DemsInPhilly pic.twitter.com/OtFStISKLH
— Abbi Crutchfield (@curlycomedy) July 29, 2016
Sometimes when I am doing something extra cool I think "man I am really doing this"
Do you guys think Hillary is thinking that right now— Paige Lavender (@paigelav) July 29, 2016
the 😃 and 😍 emoji, personified pic.twitter.com/Nd0jbHgH04
— dodai (@dodaistewart) July 29, 2016
Hey, doesn't every girl grow up waiting to NOMINATE YR MOM FOR PREZ OF THE US???
— E.J. Graff (@ejgraff) July 29, 2016
Actually mad Donald Trump gets to lose against the first woman president.
— Akilah Hughes (@AkilahObviously) July 29, 2016
Feelings update: More feelings than expected. About to buy my 8yo the Hillary t-shirt she really wants; wondering who I am, exactly.
— Nicole Chung (@nicole_soojung) July 29, 2016
I didn't think I was going to cry watching this, but I totally am. Can't believe you dudes had a monopoly on this feeling for 200+ years.
— Caitlin Kelly (@caitlin__kelly) July 29, 2016
Men: try to imagine how you'd feel right now if this was the first time in this nation's history that a man accepted presidential nomination
— Molly Knight (@molly_knight) July 29, 2016
Glass ceiling Cracked Wide Open! #HillaryClinton #DemsInPhilly
— Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) July 29, 2016
To be a woman in America tonight.
— Olivia Muenter (@oliviamuenter) July 29, 2016
My god, the chills. All Hillary reservations aside. I can't believe we are watching a woman do this.
— Emily Yoshida (@emilyyoshida) July 29, 2016
"I ACCEPT YOUR NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES." Holy crap, we just watched a woman say those words. #DemsInPhilly
— Emma Gray (@emmaladyrose) July 29, 2016
I like it when Hillary shouts. Women should shout more.
ALL CAPS WOMEN.#DrunkTweetingDNC— Ijeoma Oluo (@IjeomaOluo) July 29, 2016
#HRC is finally projecting full confidence - so important in a country where, unfortunately, competence is not enough #DNCinPHL
— Ingrid Mattson (@IngridMattson) July 29, 2016
My grandmother will be 100-years-old on November 9th. Election Day is on November 8th. It's gonna rule.
— Caro (@socarolinesays) July 29, 2016
I can't even come up with a clever tweet because I have too many emotions in this incredible, historic moment. #DNCinPHL
— Alie Martell (@aliemartell) July 29, 2016
Guys, we may have 16 years without a white man leading this country. #DemsInPhilly
— KB (@KaraRBrown) July 29, 2016
Clinton, as the first major party female nominee, is wearing white, the color of suffragettes. As did Gerry Ferraro in VP speech in 1984.
— Cathleen Decker (@cathleendecker) July 29, 2016
WE HAVE NEVER HAD THIS. WE HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS. IT IS LIKE A MOON LANDING FOR WOMEN. https://t.co/M97iyNbp9r
— Xeni Jardin (@xeni) July 29, 2016
I am so fucking proud to be a woman and a feminist right now #DemsInPhilly
— Jessica Samakow (@jsam1126) July 29, 2016
Oh my god they're treating a woman like me as if she is a complete human being I'm weeping
— Xeni Jardin (@xeni) July 29, 2016
It is amazing to see a woman giving this kind of speech on her way to becoming the next president.
— roxane gay (@rgay) July 29, 2016
I remember this woman getting shit in 1992 for not baking cookies & this is the most fucking satisfying moment ever.
— Mary Beth Williams (@embeedub) July 29, 2016
To the unknown genius who crafted this gem: Thank you. ☺️ pic.twitter.com/tPTFsUUlx9
— Jodi (@jodotcom) July 28, 2016
Eight years ago, I drove to South Dakota after finals with a high school friend to help make a woman president. I think it finally worked.
— Amanda Duberman (@AmandaDuberman) July 29, 2016
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.