Clearly, gender has a huge role in the 2016 election. With Hillary Clinton having great potential to be the very first woman President, this could be a historic moment for our country. So in the natural reaction of America, people criticize Hillary Clinton for things that they may not talk about so much with Donald Trump. For example, Hillary Clinton is continuously asked about her husband, Bill Clinton, and his policies. However, Trump is never asked for the viewpoints of his spouse, which inexplicitly tells Clinton that her opinion cannot be her own because she is a woman, so it must be from her husband.
In Jill Soloway's time magazine article entitled, "Jill Solloway on Donald Trump, Locker Rooms and Toxic Masculinity, she addresses why men's locker-room talk should not exist. Soloway explains how the way Trump talks about women is wrong and cannot be continued in general, never mind from a public figure. Soloway talks about how she refers to "classic masculinity" as "toxic masculinity" which comes from people saying phrases such as "boys will be boys". Soloway connects this toxic masculinity issue with the civil rights movement in America. Just as the N-word is now widely unaccepted as a usable term, America needs to make this locker-room talk unacceptable. Soloway explains how this type of language puts women into two different categories: the good women and the bad women. The good women are wives, daughters, and mothers and are off limits in this men's locker-room talk. The bad women are the women that this talk is revolved around. These women are referred to as property and are given no rights over their own bodies. The topics discussed in this article can relate to the Peggy McIntosh article, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" where McIntosh discusses how people with privilege are often blind to it. In this case, it is the men who are blind to their privilege of being able to talk about women however they want and suffer no consequences.
In a New York Times article, author Amy Chozick discusses how the public has criticized Hillary Clinton for the way she speaks in public. Many people have accused her of screaming when she speaks and people do not take this well. Chozick quotes a public speaking coach named Ruth Sherman who says, "The tendency to yell on the campaign stump is not gender specific, but the public is much less accustomed to hearing a woman’s voice in such settings". This can basically explain the entire argument made by Chozick, that the way Clinton speaks is not based on her gender, rather than a campaign strategy or just the simple fact that this is not how women are expected to speak in our society. Women are supposed to be soft spoken and calm when speaking, not forceful and loud. This can relate to the Allen Johnson article, "Privilege, Power, and Difference" which discusses the relation between privilege and power. Johnson says that inequality is a problem in our society and that we have all created these inequalities by our instinct fear to things that are different. In this case, the way Hillary Clinton speaks is different from what we are used to from a women. So, instead of focusing on Clinton's opinions on foreign policy, or anything relevant to the Presidency, we are instead criticizing her over something that is only unsettling to us because it is different.
SO I really like how you pointed out that Hillary Clinton is continuously asked about her husband and his policies. Although Trump is never asked for the viewpoints of his spouse, which more or less tells Clinton that her opinion cannot be her own because she is a woman.This, among many other instances is crucial to pointing out the blatant sexism in this election. Thanks Alex!
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