Thursday, May 22, 2008

From The Picture Gallery



From Shakes:





Some people in the comments asked whether it's possible to attack Hillary Clinton without using sexist slurs. Of course it is. But sexist slurs are much more fun to use. Sadly, they also reveal some deeply-hidden fears of those who apply them.

Take this cartoon, for instance. The reference to the possible racism of the Clinton campaign is a fair slur, from my point of view. It's about something that is verifiable or falsifiable, something that we can study and evaluate.

The slur about Hillary having a beard, on the other hand is not a fair one. She is not a man, doesn't actually have a beard, and the fact that the cartoon gives her one implies that she is overstepping the permissible boundaries, hunting in the fields which are reserved only for men.

That she is drawn all ugly in the cartoon is a fair slur in the sense that the tradition of painting your opponent ugly is a long one. That the writing is about her balls (testicles) is another sexist slur, based on the fact that women don't have testicles and shouldn't pretend to have them. Or rather, that people without testicles can't have power.

But the most fascinating aspect of the cartoon are all those fried balls, most of them in Hillary's bag. Here we are touching upon castration fears.

Was that enough calm and collected analysis for you, my dear readers?