Politics tends to be one of those subjects where you’re constantly running into lose-lose situations. What can start as a simple, friendly debate can take become and ugly session of bashing and name calling in a matter of seconds. It’s all our faults. On the one hand, we get so invested in identifying ourselves as belonging to either one party or the other, we never look at the grey area. Simple conversation has become so offensive, it seems as if we’re better off not even talking about it.
And then there are the political cartoons. Putting a comical twist to very serious situations, making light of problems in our society. And because we’re so invested in our separate parties, even if the comic depicts an animal (i.e., a donkey or elephant - who chose those anyway?) we feel hurt. Especially, if we feel that they are lying or exaggerating something to make “our” party seem awful. I’ve seen comic strips of Obama ushering pregnant women into abortion clinics or holding a gun to a baby carriage and telling the mother, “It’s never to late to make the choice!” I’ve seen comics that compare Bush to Hitler.
What it comes down to is that they’re comics. They’re meant to be funny and I feel that quite often many people don’t see the humor. I know that in concern to this comic, I didn’t:
Now, I didn’t vote for Hillary. She was my second choice. She would have gotten my vote had Obama lost the primaries. To some degree I did support her. I support her as the Secretary of State and for all of the amazing things she’s done. With that said, I am a bit of a feminist. I don’t think that women need men, I think that much of the time women are stronger than men and nothing makes my blood boil faster than a man saying that a woman should be in the kitchen making him sandwiches - even if he is joking. Obviously, I admire Hillary for all of the things she’s done for our country and for the world. She is a strong mother and devoted wife, but on top of all of that she is smart and educated and a high powered career person.
So for this cartoon to suggest that Hillary Clinton was incapable of being President of the United States simply because she is a woman is ridiculous to me. The idea that a woman could not hold her own in a group of world leaders and more importantly a group of men, is ludicrous. Do people really think that faced with the problems of our country and the complicated relationships our country has with other countries, a woman would just break down and cry? As if she’d never been in front of these leaders before, when her husband was President? Was she seen crying when her marriage was hanging on a thread in 1998?
And then, to add insult to injury, they bring on the issue of PMS. Beside the fact that Hillary Clinton is at an age where PMS probably isn’t a concern, the idea that PMS is so disabling that a woman could probably do nothing more than cry an eat chocolate is horrible. In all, I found this comic to be sexist and offensive and not very humorous at all.
Perhaps I’m being too sensitive about it, perhaps I am overreacting. It is all in fun, no? I laugh at other political comics. I’m not sure what it is about this one that upsets me, but the fact is that it does. Granted, it is not something that will ruin my day or promote me to find the artist and protest his house. Sometimes, things are offensive and we’ve got to brush it off. At the same time, we need to know when not to cross the line, even if we just want to call it a silly drawing.
I can definitely see how this is insulting. When I first looked at it, I was insulted by the fact that men are always trying to make woman seem like we cannot handle anything. I know that some women cannot handle working when they are on their period because they do get so upset, but for the most part it is not as crippling as men make it out to be. They make it seem that women are not emotionally stable enough to hold positions of power, which is not true. They say that we will think more with heart and not be able to make rational decisions.
ReplyDeleteI did not know want to Clinton to be president, but I do feel that a woman is perfectly capable of running a country. Women have done through out history, so to say that one cannot do it now when she may know more or have more experience than a man is very insulting. This an effort to convince people that a woman would never be emotionally stable enough to run a country, but they never said she was not smart enough. When its men they talk about age and how intelligent they are, but never question if they are emotionally stable it is a double standard.
I enjoyed reading your essay on political comics. I completely agree that the cartoon about Clinton is completely ludicrous. This comic sends a very chauvinistic and discriminatory message. Even though I am not a Clinton supporter, I felt offended as a woman that her gender was being used as a reason to depict her as an unfit president. There have been many strong female leaders throughout the history of our country and in other countries that have done an amazing job.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately there are those who will always think of women as second class citizens and incapable of leading. As long as propaganda such as this cartoon continues to be generated, the misconception will remain alive.
I think portraying individuals in a cartoon like this exaggerates situations and humiliates the individuals being portrayed. Have we ever seen Hillary acting like this in public? Not that I am aware of so it is just this cartoonists impression of women in general.
I enjoy reading a good comic as much as the next person but I don’t find political comics amusing. They usually have the same mud-slinging, slanderous, insulting tones that other political campaign venues have. This cartoon was definitely offensive to me.
I enjoyed this post a lot. I too am a little on the feminist side. I appreciate someone holding a door for me, or offering to carry something heavy, but don't you dare ask me for a sandwich. I'll burn it out of spite. PMS is especially a touchy subject for me, since I tend to PMS very badly. Unfortunately, guys just don't understand why we do this.
ReplyDeleteThis comic bothered me a lot, because it's simply wrong to even propose the idea that Hillary is unfit to be president simply because she is a woman. And that they would even bring up the topic of PMS. All women suffer PMS, mothers, business women, teachers, nurses, soldiers. Very few women actually can't handle PMS and break down into tears like this cartoon depicts. The rest of us take a deep breath and we move on. There are children and husbands clamoring for dinner, angry clients, or even a country to run. This cartoon just echoes the sentiment that men simply can't accept that women can be just as smart, strong, and capable as they are.
Unfortunately, Hillary has caught the attention of chauvinist males who want to bring her down and make her look weak.