What do you think? Do you find the image and the slogan sexist or not? Why?
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Do you find this sexist?
A (female) friend posted this image on Facebook:
While I completely agree that the Republican Party is waging a war on women, trying to erode their rights, and I am scared of what a Romney victory would mean for a lot of things I cherish, I couldn't help but find this image sexist and patronizing. It indicates that women can only vote for one candidate. Another kind of vote would indicate self-hating and craziness. I don't like being told what I have to do if I am sane, to have somebody question my self-worth if I deviate from the line. And I say this as a progressive feminist.
What do you think? Do you find the image and the slogan sexist or not? Why?
What do you think? Do you find the image and the slogan sexist or not? Why?
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I think this is a great poster and I completely agree with the sentiment. I'd word it a bit more powerfully because, to my tastes, this is way too mild.
ReplyDeleteConsidering how people seem to have no problem saying that men who support Romney hate/don't respect/etc... women I don't have much problem with this.
ReplyDeleteA recent gallup poll showed that women were evenly split on the abortion issue. Those who oppose abortion - like their male counterparts - do so because they see unborn life as a sacred gift from God. Crazy, yes. Sexist, not necessarily.
ReplyDeleteThe issue directly concerns women because they're the ones who get pregnant, but the anti-abortion movement has not waged a war on women. It would probably be the same if it were men who got pregnant. To frame it solely as a gender issue is to ignore what many religious folks are trying to achieve in protest, which is the preservation of God's spirit. I don't agree with it but I get it.
This is why the poster is un-nuanced and hyperbolic.
My problem is not exactly with the sentiment of the poster, although I agree with Anonymous that it is un-nuanced and hyperbolic. I just don't like the rhetoric, where it says that if a woman holds a different opinion from the one stated in the poster, she is being irrational.
ReplyDeleteWhat if the poster had said: "African-Americans for Romney. Because we hate ourselves"? Would you consider such a poster racist (or at least patronizing?).
Besides that, and it was not the point of my post, I don't find this kind of posters very useful. I know a lot of intelligent Republican woman. As a liberal, I would love to have more people jump to the other side. But a poster such as this is a turn-off (this is my former self, who has a BA in political science, speaking)