Bracing for the abuse to come
IT’S happened. Hillary Clinton has announced her bid for the US presidency. Cue thousands of sexist tweets. Because Clinton is not your average presidential candidate — she is a woman and she is 67.
It means she has already been inundated with numerous messages telling her she is too old; she is “a bitch counting on the whole female population to vote for her based on feminism” — which apparently makes her a “crook”. Oh, and trolls have started calling her the C-word, too.
These comments are vile. And they are only the beginning — imagine what will be said about Clinton as she takes to the campaign trail. Here is what we definitely do not want to hear said about Clinton in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
Yes, Clinton is a grandmother (daughter Chelsea recently had a baby girl). And she is 67. No, this does not mean she cannot run for the presidency. William Gladstone was reelected as Britain’s prime minister at the age of 82.
This one is already all over Twitter. Clinton is a bitch, a ball-breaker — and all the other words used to describe women that are never applied to men. Chances are she will also be called hysterical, aggressive and bossy.
Every female politician
is subject to media scrutiny on her looks. We really do not need to hear about a potential president’s choice of wardrobe.
Yes, Clinton will have women working for her. Hopefully the male candidates will, too. It does not mean they are going after the women’s vote. It could just be — shocker — that a woman was the best qualified for the job.
If Clinton does well, chances are this will be ascribed to the fact that she has a vagina.
If she does badly, her failure will probably be blamed on sexism.