Clipmarks | Gender Clips

Wrong Woman; Wrong Message

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:46:12 GMT

clipped by: debbyski
clipper's remarks: Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for -- and that Barack Obama's still does. I get no pleasure from imagining her in the spotlight on national and foreign policy issues about which she has zero background, with one month to learn to compete with Sen. Joe Biden's 37 years' experience. When asked last month about the vice presidency, she said, "I still can't answer that question until someone answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?" When asked about Iraq, she said, "I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We owe this to women -- and to many men too -- who have picketed, gone on hunger strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote.

But here is even better news: It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie.

To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs."

Post Palin

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:24:55 GMT

clipped by: lp97702
clipper's remarks: She blew it with Independents....

Clip Source: www.bloglines.com

By contrast, Democrats and independents across gender lines move toward Obama post-Palin. This movement has mostly been larger than McCain's movement among Republican women (independent men: +7 Obama; independent women: +5; Democratic men and women: +8 each). In fact, Obama now leads with white independent women (46% Obama, 39% McCain).

Among women, Obama-Biden now have the advantage in "experience"

Tags: palin, obama, mccain

Thou doth protest too much

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:46:54 GMT

clipped by: davboz
clipper's remarks: ~"Hillary, despite what you've heard, is not the smartest woman in America. And can anyone dispute that one element of Obama's allure is the potential of his becoming the first African-American president? Palin is, without doubt, in part, a token pick. So what? The appeal of a candidate includes his or her policy position, but also background (that's why we are blessed with the folksy charm of Joe Biden), experience, ability, race and gender. "~

Clip Source: www.denverpost.com

These GOPers, it must be noted, are electrified by the idea of Palin as much as they are by the candidate. In many ways, it's comparable to the allegiance that Democratic Party nominee Barack Obama enjoys — a devotion that isn't measured by legislative accomplishment or experience.

Oh, wait. Palin isn't running against Obama.

Palin, you see, is so thoroughly incompetent, downright beatable and hopelessly laughable that an army of columnists, bloggers and media types immediately jumped on every scandalous rumor, dug up every supposed indiscretion, and exhibited a sneering disdain for any experience attained outside the Beltway.

So much for celebrating the plight of the working mom. Then again, maybe you have to be the right kind of working mom.

partisan Democrats believe

Obama's relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, terrorist Bill Ayers and convicted felon Tony Rezko are unfair "distractions,"

yet

17-year-old daughter's pregnancy demands front-page attention

from

Wash

Post

and

New York Times

Putting Country First...Sarah Palin..?

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 05:46:54 GMT

clipped by: TJColatrella
clipper's remarks: Posted by me at the NY Times..in response to Tom Friedman..

Clip Source: community.nytimes.com

We saw this with the Bush administration repeatedly that ideologues were placed in high positions due their ideological purity and zealotry over those with appropriate experience and competence..

This was a big factor in our early long term failures in Iraq and Katrina, FEMA, The FDA, The Justice Dept. as well so many other bureaus and agencies..

Palin was selected and appears to be inflicted upon America soon due to her gender and ideological zealotry..alone..!

So this is just more of the same, as we experienced with Bush these many years to disastrous results, and now McCain sees fit to repeat this tendency, to reward and promote beyond their abilities those who are ideologically pure, zealots and sycophants..

How is this in any manner putting, Country First..?

— TJ Colatrella, Boiceville NY

Tags: sarah palin, john mccain, republicans, bush, iraq, katrina, fema, fda, justice dept., vice president

GOP Plays the Gender Card

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:01:31 GMT

clipped by: Wisco
clipper's remarks: Before you say this is just Laura Bush speaking for Laura Bush, consider this:

I am appalled by the Obama campaign's attempts to belittle Governor Sarah Palin's experience. The facts are that Sarah Palin has made more executive decisions as a Mayor and Governor than Barack Obama has made in his life. Because of Hillary Clinton's historic run for the Presidency and the treatment she received, American women are more highly tuned than ever to recognize and decry sexism in all its forms. They will not tolerate sexist treatment of Governor Palin.
-HP's former CEO Carly Fiorina and RNC fundraiser, quoted in RNC press release

The McCain camp, who wanted everyone to freak out when Obama supposedly "played the race card," are now claiming that any criticism of Sarah Palin is sexist.

The Republican Party; never one to shy away from blatant hypocrisy.

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

The First Lady said that supporters of Barack Obama would risk charges of sexism if they continue to launch personal attacks on Mrs Palin.

Mrs Bush spoke out on the first day of the Republican convention in St Paul, Minnesota, curtailed by the threat of Hurricane Gustav and dominated by the revelation that Mrs Palin’s 17-year-old daughter Bristol is five months pregnant.

“The other side will have to be particularly careful,” the First Lady said. Asked if the noisy reaction to the story is evidence of sexism in the American media, which Hillary Clinton claimed to have identified during her battle with Mr Obama, Mrs Bush said: “I think that's a possibility.”

Tags: news

First Two National Polls on Palin: Men Approve, Women Don't

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 04:36:53 GMT

clipped by: dulios
clipper's remarks: .

Clip Source: www.editorandpublisher.com

Surprise? First Two National Polls Find Palin Gains LESS Support from Women

NEW YORK The first national polls on John McCain's pick of Sarah Palin yesterday came out today from Rasmussen and Gallup -- and contrary to what the GOP probably hoped, she scored less well with women than men.

Among Democratic women

9% say Palin makes them more likely to support McCain, 15% less likely.

From Rasmussen: Some 38% of men said they were more likely to vote for McCain now, but only 32% of women. By a narrow 41% to 35% margin, men said she was not ready to be president -- but women soundly rejected her, 48% to 25%.

Only 9% of Obama supporters said they might be more likely to vote for McCain.

Overall, voters expressed a favorable impression of her by a 53/26 margin, but there was a severe gender gap on this: Men embraced her at 58% to 23%, while for women it was 48/30.

And by a 29/44 margin, men and women together, they do not believe that she is ready to be President.

Tags: palin, rasmussen, gallup, men, women, democrats, obama

McCain's Desperate Move

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 17:12:11 GMT

clipped by: AtlLiberal
clipper's remarks: While it may be that all VP picks are politically motivated, the good choices usually are those that besides being politically advantageous are also beneficial to the nation. After the nation discovers who Sarah Palin is and what she believes I think that McCain will realize what a colossal blunder he has made. Or maybe not??

Clip Source: www.salon.com

McCain's Palin pick is the epitome of tokenism

Suddenly all anyone needs to qualify as a potential commander in chief is to be a religious ideologue with female gender characteristics?

Aug. 30, 2008 | It is hard to think of a more cynical and contemptuous political act this year than John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate. Having served as governor of Alaska for less than two years -- and as mayor of a small town before that -- her qualifications for national office are minimal.

Palin is the epitome of tokenism, exactly what conservative Republicans have always claimed to scorn, until today, as the politics of quotas and political correctness.

But if Palin's résumé is limited, to put it politely, she possesses the only two qualities that McCain now seems to consider essential: She is a right-wing religious ideologue with female gender characteristics.

Tags: politics, palin, vp, republican

Please Get Laid

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:23:04 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

This week, while you were distractedly waiting for one of the presidential candidates to just go ahead and pick Michael Phelps as his running mate, a Manhattan lawyer sued Columbia University for discriminating against men.

Roy Den Hollander, who's best known for suing Manhattan nightclubs because they offered free or discounted Ladies Night drinks to women, claimed the university could not use government money, such as federal financial aid, to fund its Institute for Research on Women and Gender.

Two questions come to mind (and, for the record, I have a degree from Columbia). First, how did an institution that kept its undergraduate women in a separate college across the street (Barnard) until 1983 manage to become a "bastion of bigotry against men" in such a short time? Second, when did women's studies gather enough steam to pose a legitimate threat to men?

Is it so different?

Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:03:40 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: "After the female deposits her unfertilized eggs into the male, the outer shell of the eggs breaks down, and tissue from the male grows up around the eggs in the pouch. After fertilizing the eggs, the male closely controls the prenatal environment of the embryos in his pouch. The male keeps blood flowing around the embryos, controls the salt concentrations in the pouch, and provides oxygen and nutrition to the developing offspring through a placenta-like structure until he gives birth."

" in some species of pipefish, the sex roles are reversed because males become pregnant and there is limited brood pouch space. So females compete for access to available males, and thus secondary sex traits (such as brightly colored ornamentation) evolve in female pipefish instead of males."

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Male Seahorses Are Nature's Mr. Mom, Researchers Say

Male seahorses are nature's real-life Mr. Moms -- they take fathering to a whole new level: Pregnancy.

Although it is common for male fish to play the dominant parenting role, male pregnancy is a complex process unique to the fish family Syngnathidae, which includes pipefish, seahorses and sea dragons.

"The brood pouch on male seahorses and pipefish where females deposit eggs during mating is a novel trait that has had a huge impact on the biology of the species because the ability for males to become pregnant has completely changed the mating dynamics."

When seahorses mate, the female inserts her ovipositor into the male's brood pouch (an external structure that grows on the body of the male) and deposits her unfertilized eggs into the pouch. The male then releases sperm into the pouch to fertilize the eggs.

Tags: biology, gender

Anti-choice, Anti-woman

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:55:25 GMT

clipped by: lap322

Clip Source: www.thenation.com

Here's the reality: Palin is a rightwing-christian anti-choice extremist who opposes abortion for any reason whasoever, except to save the life of the girl or woman. No exception even for rape, incest, or the health of the woman. No exception for a ten-year-old, a woman carrying a fetus with no chance of life, a woman on the edge of suicide-- let alone the woman who is not ready to be a parent, who is escaping domestic violence, who is already stretched to the limit as a single mother. She wants to force over one million women and girls a year to give birth against their will and judgment. She wants to use the magnificent freedom the women's movement has won for her at tremendous cost and struggle--the movement that won her the right to run those marathons and run Alaska -- to take away the freedom of every other woman in the country.

McCain is gambling that women will vote their gender, and not their interests.

I expect pro-choice women will see through this gambit pretty fast.

Tags: palin, mccain, abortion, women's rights

A female Democrat's take on Sarah Palin

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:21:29 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: At the end of the day, it's still about what kind of country you want

Clip Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

The media is swirling: Was it smart? Was it dumb? Will she gets votes? Will she lose votes?

at the end of the day, it's not about gender, race or even age. It's about what kind of country you want for yourself, and your children.

We're tired of living in a world where jobs get shipped overseas, hardworking-families are going broke, children are going without healthcare, and our best and brightest are dying in a ill-conceived war based on misinformation and ego.

So, yes it's nice that John McCain put a woman in the number two spot on his ticket.

If I ever meet her I'd be delighted to take her to lunch, or have her on my PTA.

But the future of our country is at stake here people.

I have two daughters, ages 10 and 15, and the last thing I want is to have to wake them up on Nov 5th and tell them that we're going to have four more years just like the last eight.

My girls deserve better than that. And so do you.

Tags: palin, women, politics

Australia suffering 'man drought'

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:08:29 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: The Mayor of Mount Isa is in all sorts after suggesting women, who were not so physically attractive, might find a mate in the Isa.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

An analysis of new census figures has shown that Australia is suffering from an unprecedented "man drought".

The statistics have revealed that there are almost 100,000 more females than males in Australia.

The problem is worse in the coastal cities, where women have moved seeking better jobs and lifestyles, while many men have gone overseas.

Thirty years ago Australia was with flush with men thanks to immigration policies that favoured males.

That position has been reversed because thousands of Australian men in their 20s and early 30s have gone overseas either to travel or to work.

It has caused a gender imbalance that is having far-reaching implications.

Major cities in Australia now have concentrated groups of unattached women, along with dwindling numbers of the opposite sex.

Demographers have compiled a so-called "Love Map" that shows how the various clusters of unattached men and women are distributed across the Australian continent.

Tags: truth, creates, the, wrong, impression

Women More Skeptical of Palin Than Men

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:29:37 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks: It will be interesting to see if this pattern holds up in other polls.

Via Andrew Sullivan.

Clip Source: www.fivethirtyeight.com

What's interesting, however, is that while there is a gender gap in these numbers, it's not the one many observers were anticipating.

Rather, along a variety of metrics, men like the Palin choice better than women:

Tags: sarah palin, 2008 election, public-opinion, poll, polls, andrew sullivan

Does John McCain think Women are that stupid?

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:29:36 GMT

clipped by: NonStatQuo
clipper's remarks: Do women care more about having a token example on any ticket over finding a woman who won't support a women's right to choose?

Someone who has limited experience?

Blacks won't vote for Obama just because he is black, and women won't vote for women just because of token gender.

I hope we are all SMART enough to look at the issues beyond race or gender.

Clip Source: www.google.com

Tags: politics, women, abortion, guns, mccain, women are smarter than this

McCain picks Alaska gov as running mate.

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:38:29 GMT

clipped by: paleblue
clipper's remarks: He's kidding right? So he's 72 today and of course no one wishes anyones death in regard to leaving a country in someones hands in the case of death -- is she it? In his analytical eyes of Obama's inexperience -- she's even less qualified and no ones heard of her to boot.. Is this want we want in case of disaster or at 3am? This is either a stupid political move or they are trying to give the race away! If female Hillary supporters jump onboard with this ticket this shows either of two things -- they are racists and can't except Obama in office or it wasn't about Hillary at all it was gender based.. So what does that say about them? ? Perplexing this is I must say..

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com