Clinton Got Real About the Double Standard in Politics

Rightfully so, Hillary Clinton has used her womanhood to her advantage throughout her campaign. After coining the slogan “I’m With Her” and forgoing her last name on campaign posters, it is shoved in the faces’ of the American people that we have the opportunity to elect our first female president. Some women feel they have an obligation to vote for Hillary; others stubbornly are not voting for “Crooked Hillary” so she cannot bare the historic title as our first female president. Suddenly, gender became one of Hillary’s biggest platforms.

Gender and the idea that young women have seemed to have forgotten the struggles of womanhood has been addressed numerous times at Clinton rallies. Most notably, at a rally in February, Madeleine Albright called out young female Bernie supporters for not empowering other women:

“We can tell our story of how we climbed the ladder, and a lot of you younger women think it’s done. It’s not done. There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other!”

Harsh.

Gloria Steinem takes things one-step further in an interview with Bill Maher. She said:

“They’re going to get more activist as they get older. And when you’re young, you’re thinking ‘Where are the boys?’ The boys are with Bernie.”

Steinem accused young female voters of flocking to where they can find a date, implying they are not seriously involved in politics. Not surprisingly, this statement caused a lot of backlash, possibly pushing young women farther away from the Clinton campaign.

Despite the controversial statements made by both Albright and Steinem, it is evident that Clinton sees some truth to their points — well, at least some truths to Albright’s point. For instance, privileged young women today do not face the same challenges that women did in the 60s, when Clinton was in college. To prove her point of gender inequality and the battles she hurdled to get where she is today, Clinton got personal on the Humans of New York Facebook page.

She shared a story from when she took the LSAT test at Harvard University. Clinton, a privileged young white woman at the time, was basically told to go home by her male classmates. As a privileged young white woman now, I was never told by my male classmates to not follow my dreams or take a test for higher education. Instead, we work together; study together — maybe to Steinem’s point of getting a date — but things are different now, easier for educated women. Granted, I do I speak on behalf of all young women, but from my perspective, I have it much easier than Clinton did.

Clinton shares this story not only to give young women perspective on how far we have come as an oppressed group, but she also makes it clear that women and men are still not equal. The Humans of New York post got real. Clinton opened up and shared how her experiences have affected her character. Through being pushed away from her dreams, education, and now her Presidential candidacy, she learned to work a Poker Face — a notorious Poker Face that hides her emotions from the world.

Her Poker Face has not been perceived well by the general American public. People view her as cold and walled-off. She doesn’t smile enough. She gestures with her hands too much. She is too loud. Do we not see these things in Donald Trump? A double-standard.

I grew up with the perception that there was never a female president because women are too emotional. Women would not be able to keep their composer after an attack like 9/11. Women would not be able to react rationally to a devastating natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina. But Clinton is perceived as emotionless — and now that too is undesirable in a female president.

Love her or hate her — the Humans of New York post was more than a campaign technique, it was a wake up call that the oppression of women is still so prevalent in our country. Following Albright and Steinem’s lead, Clinton offered a softer, stronger approach to the topic that indirectly called out the double standard of politics. Maybe we should start critiquing Trump’s emotional instability instead of harboring on Clinton’s emotional composer.