An All-Caps Explosion of Feelings Regarding the Liberal Feminist Backlash against Bernie Sanders

Over the weekend, two feminist icons came out to scold women who plan to back Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary. During an interview with Bill Maher Friday evening, Gloria Steinem suggested (and has since apologized) that young women are only supporting Bernie because “the boys are with Bernie.” The next day, Madeleine Albright introduced Hillary Clinton at a rally in New Hampshire and spoke about the importance of women supporting each other, declaring “there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other.” While others have been all-caps yelling about the liberal backlash against Hillary Clinton (and, in some ways, rightfully so, given the ensuing sexism she faces), it’s Monday and what I really want to yell about at this moment is the liberal feminist backlash against Bernie’s legion of women supporters.

So, by virtue of us Bernie lady fans all being too goddamn busy fucking our brains out and gleefully burning other women at the stake to get up and yell right now about how utterly condescending and outright sexist it is when prominent feminists reduce women voters to bimbos with no sense of independent political agency, I will yell for us all.

FIRST AND FUCKING FOREMOST, COOL, YOU LIKE TOTALLY UNDERSTAND HOW HARD SHIT IS AND HAS BEEN FOR WOMEN AND ARE LIKE TOTALLY IN TUNE WITH ALL THE NUANCES OF SEXISM AND HOW THAT PLAYS OUT IN A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AND HOW MUCH THAT FUCKING SUCKS. IT REALLY, REALLY DOES — AND GUESS WHAT? WE ALL AGREE WITH YOU! IN FACT, MANY WOMEN FOR BERNIE ALSO IDENTIFY AS FEMINISTS AND ARE JUST AS ANGRY ABOUT THE BARRAGE OF SEXISM DIRECTED AT HILLARY CLINTON! WE WOULD LOVE NOTHING MORE THAN TO SUPPORT A WOMAN CANDIDATE, AND ALL POLITICS BEING EQUAL, OR VERY CLOSE TO EQUAL, WE WOULD HOP THE FUCK ON BOARD IN A HEARTBEAT. I MEAN, IT’S ABOUT TIME AMIRITE?! WE CAN DEFINITELY AGREE THAT WE NEED MORE WOMEN IN POLITICAL OFFICE! WE FEEL YOUR FRUSTRATION — SEXISM IS A BUNCH OF FUCKING BALONEY AND WE WANT THAT SHIT DISMANTLED JUST AS BADLY AS YOU DO!

BUT THE THING IS, THERE ARE OTHER IMPORTANT POWER STRUCTURES WE WANT TO SEE DISMANTLED AS WELL AND SO SOME OF US FUCKING LIKE BERNIE’S WISHES AND DREAMS APPROACH TO POLITICS! WE REALLY WANT FREE COLLEGE FOR EVERYONE AND THAT GODDAMN PONY! YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE JUST LIKE IT’S ABOUT FUCKING TIME FOR A WOMAN TO BE PRESIDENT, IT’S ALSO ABOUT FUCKING TIME THAT WE ADDRESS SYSTEMIC INEQUALITY IN AMERICA IN A REALLY SERIOUS WAY. IN THE LAST TWENTY YEARS, AMERICAN POLITICS HAVE SHIFTED DRASTICALLY TO THE RIGHT AND WE NEED RADICAL CHANGE IN ORDER TO OFFSET THIS. ABOVE ALL THIS MUST INCLUDE A THOROUGH CRITIQUE ON CONCENTRATED WEALTH AND POWER IN AMERICA AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. ISSUES OF RACE AND GENDER ARE INEXTRICABLY LINKED TO CLASS ISSUES WHICH CONTRIBUTE TO MANY STRUCTURAL INEQUALITIES FOR WOMEN AND MINORITIES. AND BERNIE GETS THIS! ON TOP OF HAVING AN EXTREMELY STRONG RECORD FIGHTING FOR FEMINIST ISSUES, BERNIE TAKES ON WEALTH INEQUALITY AND RACIAL JUSTICE WITH A FERVOR THAT HILLARY CLINTON JUST DOESN’T HAVE. AND THIS IS FUCKING HUGE FOR A LOT OF US, ESPECIALLY FOR WOMEN DRAWN TO A MORE INTERSECTIONAL APPROACH WHEN IT COMES TO FEMINIST POLITICS AND ORGANIZING. AS OTHERS HAVE POINTED OUT, BY SUPPORTING MILITARIZATION, INCARCERATION, AND WELFARE ROLLBACKS, HILLARY HAS BEEN A HUGE LETDOWN TO SOME OF THE MOST MARGINALIZED WOMEN IN THE WORLD.

SO WHEN GLORIA STEINEM AND MADELEINE ALBRIGHT GET ON CAMERA AND HAVE THE AUDACITY TO SHAME WOMEN FOR SUPPORTING BERNIE SANDERS AS IF WE ARE SOME MONOLITH OF TRAITORS ON SOME EASTER EGG HUNT FOR DICK RATHER THAN THE POLITICALLY ENGAGED INDIVIDUALS THAT WE ARE, IT IS AN EMBARRASSMENT TO FEMINISM. SISTERHOOD IS NOT ABOUT MAKING A DESPERATE PLEA FOR ALL WOMEN TO SUPPORT A CANDIDATE THAT SO MANY OF US FEEL JUST DOESN’T QUITE GRASP THE NEED FOR INTERSECTIONALITY. INSTEAD OF SHAMING BERNIE SANDERS VOTERS, FEMINIST ICONS SHOULD BE ENCOURAGING HILLARY CLINTON TO GIVE MORE OF A FUCK ABOUT WOMEN WHO DON’T BENEFIT FROM THE KIND OF PRIVILEGE THAT SHE ENJOYS. AND IF YOU COME AT ME FOR EVEN ONE GODDAMN SECOND WITH THAT “YOU’RE A BAD FEMINIST” SIDE EYE FOR SUPPORTING A MAN OVER A WOMAN I WILL DESTROY YOU WHERE YOU STAND (NAH, JK, I DESPISE UNNECESSARY WAR LOL).

But really, none of us should be yelling at each other! So can we just stop this nonsense?! Because women — whether Hillary supporters or Bernie supporters — each have their personal reasons for why they support who they do and no one should feel like they have to fucking qualify their support if they don’t want to. Whether women are supporting Hillary because they truly believe she has a better chance at getting things done in Washington or because it would be goddamn awesome to have a woman president or because they think that Bernie is an overly idealistic socialist grandpa or for whatever reason, it doesn’t matter — I trust that these women all have legit, well thought-out rationale, even if we don’t agree. Likewise, women who have thrown their support behind Bernie do not deserve to have our commitment to feminism challenged or to be so casually dismissed by two high-profile feminists just because we choose to push back against the particular brand of corporate feminism that Hillary Clinton embodies and which so many of us have ultimately made the very well-calculated decision to reject.