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I'm not entirely sure where 2008 went, but it seems like it is time for my annual year end review of feminism & gender. Let's start by saying that once again, it is a pleasure to write about feminism & gender at BlogHer. The BlogHer community is fantastic, and the blog posts, comments on others' posts, and writing in general that you do are what makes it so great for me to be involved in this. (And this is why I hope that you will leave comments about what mattered to you in 2008 when it comes to feminism and/or write a post on your blog and link to it with my friend Mr. Linky.) This year was no different than any other, except that much of the world watched with bated breath as two very different women battled at various points in the election season to occupy the top two tiers of the White House, and more women than ever were elected to Congress. So here's which BlogHer stories stuck out for me in 2008:
Politics and Feminism
PunditMom kicked off her first post as a contributing editor at BlogHer with her post on what I like to call the teary eyes debated around the world - yes, I mean Hillary Clinton's watery eyes before the New Hampshire primaries. From there, we discussed whether she was likable enough and, as Jill Miller Zimon asked, whether her husband was too involved in her campaign. (My answers: yes.)
The shit really hit the fan, though, when New York State NOW said that Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Obama over Clinton was "the ultimate betrayal" of women. This is when my naive brown eyes really took a good, hard look at how "mainstream" feminism fails a significant portion of the population. Megan Smith of Megan's Minute felt that "the tensions that arose between the women of color who've never felt part of the feminist movement, and white feminists who assumed women of color should pick Hillary over Obama" is an essential issue. (In fact, it almost led me to disavow feminism, but I hope that opportunities in 2009 to create a new feminist movement, like the Fem2.0 conference, will continue to push the envelope in confronting white privilege within feminism.)
At the same time, Hillary Clinton was at times unfairly and brutally attacked by various media outlets in ways that male candidates were not. (Chris Mattews is high on my shit list. How about you?) Of course, Hillary Clinton is not the first woman to rock American politics, Maria Niles reminded us.
Whether or not the media caused Clinton to lose her bid as the Democratic candidate for president (and I don't think they/it ultimately did, although they/it certainly did not help), Sarah Palin came along and pushed the feminist debate in a new direction. If women of color were expected to support Clinton because she was a woman, did feminism also require progressive, liberal feminists to support Palin because she was a woman? I say, Hell, no! However, as much as liberal feminists disliked Palin's stances on many issues, we did learn from the Clinton experience and vocally opposed the attacks on her based on her sex. As Meghan Smith pointed out:
Sarah Palin threw a wrench in the feminism works. After Hillary was out of the race, here comes Sarah Palin and feminists found themselves having to hold their collective noses and defend her, even though she didn't stand for any of the issues traditional feminists do. And then there are all the conservative women out there who were thrilled at Palin's pick. Now they don't call themselves feminists. What are they?
And, although she herself is not running for office, how does Michelle Obama fit into the picture? The media attacks on her have been vicious, including misguided attempts to highlight how unfair the attacks where that relied on racist imagery.
No matter how one feels about Clinton or Palin, it is important to remember that this election saw more women get elected to Congress than ever. If we want to see a female president, we need to continue to build a pipeline of experience, qualified candidates. We are making progress.
Sex and Relationships and Feminism
Imagine girls around the nation saying, "Here, Daddy - I pledge you
