Due to traveling, I’m catching up on the blogosphere. I did read about the exchange between Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA) and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) on Thursday but didn’t get to write about it.
Immediately, Twitter and conservative blogs erupted in outrage. Senator Specter was openly rude to Bachmann and did not show the courtesy that should be extended to a colleague.
Let’s think about this. Specter spoke down to Bachmann and admonished her to “act like a lady.” This was clearly disrespectful and demeaning towards women. As my friend Tabitha noted:
Do we get to call misogyny on this one? Because really. His statement feels like it should continue with “and get back in the kitchen.”
Was there an outcry in the blogosphere from feminists? A female elected official was publicly insulted by a man. Shouldn’t they release statements and defend Bachmann? I decided to do a little investigating. If this had happened to Barbara Boxer or Nancy Pelosi, would we have heard more noise?
I decided to go through the list of feminist blogs that I have over at Fourth Wave Woman. Did they call out Senator Specter?
Amanda Marcotte: nope
Emily’s List: nada
Feministe: nada
Feministing: nada
Feminist Law Professors: nada
Feminist Majority: nothing
Menstrual Poetry: nope
NOW: nothing
RH Reality Check: nothing
The Sexist: nothing. You’d think Amanda Hess would at least cover it, since the Washington City Paper is located in the District. Guess it’s not a big deal when a conservative woman is maligned in the geographic area that your employer covers since your tagline is “Sex and gender in the District.” She did find time to write about the latest hookups on Real World DC, but apparently missed actual sexism that occurs among our elected officials.
Jezebel actually mentioned the exchange, but buried under a news item about Elizabeth Edwards and didn’t condemn Specter.
Now Emily’s List did take the time to write about Michele Bachmann twice last week: her the State of the Union event and the news that Sarah Palin would campaign for her.
Broadsheet’s Tracy Clark-Flory did call out Specter but did it hestitatingly in order to not incur the wrath of Democrats:
It’s hard to get too worked up about such a juvenile exchange, but it’s worth pausing for a moment to make note of his choice of the word “lady.” Only Specter knows what he truly meant by it — but, as a public service announcement for all the men out there, let me just say: Many women interpret “act like a lady” to mean “know your place, little girl.” This comes from spending a lifetime being instructed in various ways to sit back politely, speak up only when called upon and defer to the male ego.
(The comments have an interesting debate over the matter.)
There are several issues at stake here.
1. Bachmann is on the top 10 list of feminist enemies.
Following Sarah Palin (enemy numero uno), Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter, Bachmann gets a lot of hate from those lefty gals. It doesn’t matter what happens to these women. Remember, Republicans and pro-lifers are the top enemies, not the the fight for equality and respect for all women.
2. Specter is now a Democrat and now gets the protection of Democrats.
Feminists long ago sold out to the larger interests of the Democratic party to actually get some political clout, they have to follow the commands of the Democratic Party. No matter what the offense, Democrats can’t be criticized in public by other Democrats. All infractions must be ignored. Usually this is evidenced when male Democrats have affairs, but Specter is another example. Since he finally has a D after his name, he can’t be called out.
Now, since a conservative woman was insulted by a Democratic man, this situation gets double protection from the feminists. But that doesn’t make it any less hypocritical.
Had this situation been reversed and a Republican man said this to a Democratic woman or a Democratic man said this to a female Democrat, I have a feeling that the reaction would have been different. However, as example after example shows, it’s ok to discriminate against women as long as they’re conservative and pro-life. Feminist writers are usually the main perpetrators of misogyny towards conservative women.
Nearly all of these blogs took time to post Cosmopolitan pictures of Scott Brown from 20 years ago, but they couldn’t take the time to condemn the disrespectful actions of a sitting senator. Shameful.
5 Comments
If any gendered person asks a man to “act like a gentleman” would it be considered rude? No. We are referred to as ladies and gentlemen in polite society. Why is this a shameful crime?
Heather,
To tell a woman to “act like a lady” is traditionally a term of derision. Telling a man to act like a gentleman does not have the historical connotation that the female version does. Sorry, but this comment was not made to reference polite society. Specter was being rude and trying to put Bachmann in her place.
In addition to the demeaning words, the tone was demeaning. Last summer (I think it was), Specter was on Laura Ingram’s radio program and, in a haughty tone…almost a shout, called her “Young Lady” as he lectured her.
Not for nothing, but I’ve been casually reading your site for a while now… I even featured it in the DC Blogs round-up, so I am fairly sure that I can be reasonably insulated from charges of being a knee-jerk reactionary liberal. That being said, I think that you are taking too much umbrage with the media here. While I agree that the comparison between “act like a lady” and “act like a gentleman” is a false one because of the historical connotations, I also think that this was a relatively minor dust-up because the players are relatively minor, and the historical nature of the offense so common.
Rep. Bachmann is a second term representative whose primary national recognition is through her inflammatory statements. Sen. Spector, while being admittedly boorish, is not exactly a darling of the media. I think that the principle of Occam’s Razor would apply here. The reason for the progressive media sources you identified as ignoring this story is most likely that they never heard of it. Especially when you consider that most people live in a media echo chamber, doesn’t it seem even more likely that they didn’t hear about it?
P.S. I thought the swipe at Amanda Hess was particularly gratuitous as political coverage isn’t really her thing.
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