As we wait to hear the announcement of Joe Biden’s running mate, negative stories seem to be hitting all over the place about all of the candidates. Part of this is routine in politics, of course. But Jessica Valenti makes the case that no woman will ever be seen as good enough, even for the second-place job.
Kamala Harris is too ambitious; Elizabeth Warren is too much of a know-it-all; Stacey Abrams doesn’t have enough experience. This is more than standard vetting — it’s a live demonstration of the impossibly high standard women are held to, even when they’re up for the second-most important job. It’s the latest iteration of the “I’ll vote for a woman, just not that woman” phenomenon, and it shows that despite all the feminist gains made in female representation in D.C., America still has a problem with women in leadership positions.
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I want to be excited about a female vice presidential pick. I want to feel some measure of hope and joy during an objectively shitty time. But what’s more likely than women across America celebrating when Biden announces his pick is a collective girding of ourselves and our hope. Because we know that whoever the woman is, she’ll be a target for criticism, harassment, dismissal, and hatred. All for the crime of daring to think herself good enough for the job of second fiddle.
The “too ambitious” knock was discussed in last week’s WOW: it’s something that’s not considered a character flaw in men, yet was used to denigrate Hillary Clinton. Ditto for “know-it-all.” Looking at the COVID-19 crisis and a crashed economy, I’d say we could use some ambitious and knowledgeable leadership.
As always, WOW is a team effort. Thanks to Angmar, elenacarlena, Pule4Puna, mettle fatigue, ramara, and the WOW crew for links and discussion.
Violence and Harassment:
The Netflix documentary “Audrie and Daisy” described the harassment endured by two teenage girls after they reported being sexually assaulted. Audrie Potts died by suicide shortly after the assault. Daisy Coleman went on to become a vocal advocate for sexual assault survivors. This week, 23-year-old Daisy took her own life.
In Britain, standup comedy faces its longstanding harassment and sexism issues.
Dozens of former Ellen Show employees describe rampant sexual misconduct and harassment by executive producers.
Thousands rally in Turkey against violence against women.
The Victims’ Commissioner for England & Wales describes the decline in rape prosecutions there as “catastrophic,” saying it amounts to a “decriminalisation of rape.”
WOW has previously posted about the case of Lauren McCluskey, whose pleas for help were ignored by University of Utah police until she was killed by the ex who had been harassing her. It was later reported that the evidence she gave to police included sexually explicit photos that the ex used to blackmail her — and the police officer showed them around among his colleagues for entertainment.
A student at Bob Jones University reported a sexual assault. The university’s response was to expel her for drinking alcohol. She’s suing.
In Iran, women’s podcast gives voice to victims of abuse.
Judge says EJ Carroll’s defamation lawsuit against Trump (over alleged rape) can proceed.
Roy Den Hollander, who shot the husband and son of Judge Esther Salas, was described by the NYT as “the most extreme” of men’s rights activists. In fact, his views were mainstream in that movement. In 2010, he wrote an inflammatory piece for the men’s rights hate site A Voice for Men, declaring that men might be forced to take up arms to defeat what he saw as the tyranny of feminism.
Reproductive Rights and Health:
Abortion by telemedicine remains out of reach in may coronavirus hot spots.
The indirect effects of COVID-19 on women.
Endometriosis is excruciatingly painful for women, and has gotten far less research money than, say, male erectile dysfunction. One of the few studies that was done on endometriosis had the sole purpose of rating the participants’“attractiveness,” a fact which was not communicated to the subjects, who thought they were helping patients get some relief. Seven years later, the publication has finally removed the study. Which, good, but it still gets us no closer to help for women with endometriosis.
Intersectionality:
The bizarre story of the meltdown at MeTooSTEM.
A relentless harassment campaign against Maya Moody highlights how unprotected Black women are online.
Why Michelle Obama opening up about depression is a big deal for Black women.
Economics:
From Hawai’i: A feminist economic recovery plan for COVID-19.
The cheap value of caregiving is not natural, but has political origins. Caregiving, associated with and expected of women, is necessary for economic production to take place and yet it is split off from economic production, thereby structurally subordinating women in society. This is why even within their own racial, indigenous status, and economic groups, women are the most marginalized. Case in point: Native Hawaiian women are more economically vulnerable than Native Hawaiian men, earning 70 cents for every dollar a man makes, and 79 cents for every dollar a Native Hawaiian man makes. Women will never be able to equally participate in Hawaiʻi’s economy without a social care infrastructure and if men are not supported and incentivized to share care activities.
Uncategorizable:
AI systems at Google, IBM, and Microsoft were shown pictures of men and women wearing PPE masks. The systems were twice as likely to correctly identify the men as wearing masks. As for women:
Google's AI identified 28% of the images as being women with their mouths covered by duct tape. In 8% of cases, the AI thought these were women with facial hair. Quite a lot of facial hair, it seems.
IBM's Watson took things a little further. In 23% of cases, it saw a woman wearing a gag. In another 23% of cases, it was sure this was a woman wearing a restraint or chains.
Good News:
A small but powerful signal: Mumbai puts female figures on traffic lights. The ides is to help dispel the notion that only men should be out in public.
100 years later, the descendants of suffragettes carry on the legacy.
USA Today, August 3: Women in Media: The 19th is the newest women-based publication to focus on gender, politics:
USA TODAY and Univision are partnering with the 19th for the launch. Although the stories will be available to any news outlet, the USA TODAY Network will regularly republish the stories across its platforms in more than 250 markets.“We are working on storytelling that exposes disparities, discrepancies and the disadvantages that affect women, especially women of color, in our country,” Ramshaw told USA TODAY. “That could be anything from the role of women in our economic system, in our health care system and most important, the disadvantages women face in seeking elective office in this country.”
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The 19th serves as a community for women, according to Ramshaw. She emphasized that it has taken decades for legacy organizations to make institutional changes to diversify newsrooms.