enriquejsancheguiguren
Nov 13, 2017

Hillary didn't lose just because she was a woman

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Not that she hasn't done things that are at the very least impressive for a woman to do. She did go further than any other woman in US history in her attempt to become president. And she is one of the most important women in modern society today.

 

But at what cost should we hold her up on a pedestal? I personally would prefer her over our current president, but not because I think she's a great person or would be a good president. There are lots of reasons, but the one I find most relevant to this is the way she's twisted a version of white feminism to aid her narrative in a way that attacks her opponents without helping the feminist cause. Hillary used feminism as her excuse when she popularized the Bernie Bros (after her failed attempt to make the Obama boys stick in 2008), and she continued to push a narrative where she was a kind of feminist icon that her policies didn't support. And it's this constant falling back on sexism, without also addressing possible policy concerns, that makes her an unpleasant character.

 

Don't get me wrong, Hillary was the victim of sexism. However, I'd say that if you were the type of person who wouldn't vote for someone, just because they are a woman, you were probably gonna vote for the more conservative (and sexist) Donald Trump anyway. Not that sexism isn't more complicated or implicit than that, but I don't think Hillary can blame her problems so easily on that.

 

Hillary lost for a lot of reasons, (some including treason, which wasn't her fault, so good for her there) but I don't think it's wise to say her womanhood lost her the race. Her policy positions, and the mainstream democratic party as a whole at that time, was lost and failed to connect with voters. Her past was filled with skeletons in the closet, most of which were vastly over exaggerated, and some of which were fabricated by a hungry press, yet what remained still was off putting. We can't know how she'd do in a fairer election, one against a more conventional opponent and without foreign interference. And she may have been elected. But it detracts from Hillary Clinton the person to put her in a box where she lost solely because of uncontrollable factors (gender, Russians), it robs her of her ability to take responsibility for and shape her own story.

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