Yes, we are aware of Ms. Magazine cover….
January 9, 2009
by The New Agenda
|76 Comments
Our inbox is flooded with emails on this Ms. Magazine cover.
And no, it is not a hoax. Apparently, the Special Offer also includes a 18″ x 24″ poster – no joke.
We’ve seen this pattern before, now haven’t we. Remember Larry Summers suddenly getting all sort of adulating press (e.g. hiring a PR firm to repair his image)?
We are aware and evaluating.
Ms. Magazine has jumped the shark.
un-fucking-believable.
OMG, this is soooooooo funny. I can’t even be offended by this, it’s just frigin’ absurd!
And you are so right, Sheryl… Ms. Magazine has seriously jumped the shark.
Trivia question:
Who owns Ms. Magazine?
___________________
Hint: Feminist Majority.
Okay, I’m cracking myself up here. I figured it out.
Ms. Magazine has turned into Tiger Beat! I can’t wait to scotch tape the Obama poster up on my bedroom wall!
Ali
“Ms. Magazine has turned into Tiger Beat! I can’t wait to scotch tape the Obama poster up on my bedroom wall!”
Thanks for making me laugh! We must be the same age. That’s hysterical.
So — when someone has time — what sort of article does that cover illustrate?
fsteele,
The magazine isn’t out yet. (As far as I know) On the website it says coming soon.
After a 2 hour argument with my son, he says to at least get my references right. He rightly called this as a spoof on this Superman image:
http://www.afhub.com/images/ho.....rns_13.jpg
Super-Fem?
I wonder if they were committed to this cover before Obama started naming his cabinet. Because in that regard, their Feminist Superman is making Bush II look like Kate Millett.
Ms. Magazine is advertising an upcoming issue (content not released yet) with a cover depicting Obama as a ‘feminist.’
http://www.msmagazine.com/
letterstotheeditor@msmagazine.com
contentsuggestions@msmagazine.com
Editorial Staff of MS. Magazine:
[some of them have direct links at http://www.msmagazine.com/contact.asp
Executive Editor Katherine Spillar
Managing Editor Michel Cicero
Senior Editor Michele Kort
Guest Editor Mary Ellen Strote
Global Editor Robin Morgan
Associate Editor Jessica Stites
Copy Editor Sarah Chung
Proofreader Miriam Jacobson
****Consulting Editor Gloria Steinem
Money Editor Martha Burk
****Columnist Donna Brazile
http://www.msmagazine.com/contact.asp
Press Inquires
Emily Pudalov
310.556.2500 ext. 120
Letters to the Editor
letterstotheeditor
@msmagazine.com
Content Suggestions
Advertisers
For advertising requests or questions contact Jelena Tadic by phone at 310.435.9355 or by e-mail, jtadic@feminist.org. Please contact Ms.magazine’s main office at 310.556.2515 for editorial and all other general questions.
Publishing
1600 Wilson Blvd. #801
Arlington, VA 22209
703.522.4201 phone
703.522.2219 fax
This is truly outrageous and disgusting. It feels like such a betrayal.
Action Plan:
1. Everyone should take action and write to the contacts listed above in fsteele’s email (Thank you fsteele). TELL MS. MAGAZINE TO PULL THE COVER.
Let them know what you think about it.
2. I think we need to outline very clearly the many ways in which O is NOT a feminist. Amy’s list from an earlier post is a good start (Thank you Amy):
“Obama has given the women of this country the following:
• Larry Summers – girls have inferior aptitude in mathematics and science;
• John Favreau – ah c’mon, groping her was all in good fun;
• Cabinet Selections – send us backwards a couple of decades;
• Rick Warren – enemy to women and the LGBT community, amongst others”
• ETC, ETC
Let’s hit Ms. Magazine hard with the facts. (the facts speak for themselves).
3. Boycott Ms. Magazine and any products they advertise. Let the advertisers know you will be boycotting their products.
4. Can we join together with other like-minded women’s groups to protest Ms. Magazine? Perhaps a letter signed by a number of groups?
5. Does anyone know Gloria Steinem personally?
Here are some additional contacts for Ms. Magazine:
1. The publisher is Liberty Media for Women, LLC which is owned by the Feminist Majority Foundation. There is a form for comments here: http://www.feminist.org/forms/comments.html
The Feminist Majority has East and West Coast Offices:
1600 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 801
Arlington, VA 22209
703-522-2214
703-522-2219 (fax)
433 S. Beverly Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
310-556-2500
310-556-2509 (fax)
Hi Thia,
Check it out. Ms. Magazine has competition…. Tiger Beat is still around!
http://www.tigerbeatmag.com/celebs/
Thanks to those that posted the contact info for the magazine; I’ll get on it today.
**Shame on all these people who live out their fantasy of this man in public.
After the whole “speechwriter” thing & Obama’s silence!
Ugh………………..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wake up everyday “Hoping” this is all just a nightmare; but sadly, “It’s Reality”!!
Well,
If this cover is for real, it is obviously incorrect. I will, and others should as well, give Obama credit for the various appointments he has made of women in first and second tier jobs and the Women’s Agenda he has drafted.
However, he is far from a feminist and has disappointed supporters like me that he has not appointed women to some key posts and appointed people like Larry Summers and given Rick Warren undeserved spotlight.
I don’t know what is going on. I don’t believe this is all Obama’s fault; there also seems to be this cultural air flowing of accepting his lack of appointing more women even by high-ranking women among female governors, senators and congresswomen. May be times are so harsh that the public is really given Obama the benefit of the doubt.
Boy, the commerce secretary ought to be a woman.
Don’t forget Favreau and Obama’s silence!
Here’s a redo of the Ms. Magazine cover: http://madamab.wordpress.com/
Kevin,
It sounds like you are putting a lot of effort into making excuses for Obama and his so NOT a feminist record. I don’t mean that in a tacky way, I just mean that when you have to work that hard to explain, excuse, or “try to find the good in him” you start to sound like a battered wife. I hear a lot of men and women that sound the same way, and that really is what it makes me think of. Sometimes you just have to call it like it is. He is NOT a feminist. His record with women STINKS! A magazine that would try to convince me otherwise for what can only be less than altruistic reasons is not fit to line my cat box.
Okay, I am officially bitter.
I was simultaneously laughing hysterically and retching when I saw this cover from Ms.
I guess someone figures they have “handled” the women problem with this. So now we can all sit back and wait for breaking women’s issues fashion news relative to Michelle O, our sister in fashion and the White house, from the administration.
Still ROFLMAO, the BO, Alelrod, Favreau crowd have no idea.
I’ve written this up at my place. That’s Really Super, Supergirl Enjoy.
Thia,
I don’t feel like I am making excuses for Obama; I am just trying to be balanced and objective. When he does well for women, I want to applaud him. When we screws up I want to hold him accountable. More importantly, I want to leverage the good, like the women appointments and agenda he has credited to advance women’s rights.
To me, it is like coaching a basketball team, the GM didn’t give me the center I want or the point guard I need, but I three other pretty good players to create a good starting five. I am only going to complain for so long about not getting the two other players I wanted. I am about getting the team I have to play the best basketball they can to win a championship.
Obama has given TNA some tools to work with:
- The appointments he has made; let’s figure out how we empower and watch out for these women as they attempt to do their jobs
- A stimulus package that might be used to empower women in the trades and
- A pretty good Women’s Agenda to hold him accountable to
I don’t believe these actions are worthy of the cover but I don’t see him as the enemy, or a sexist. He is simply not the leader I expected in this area – I give him a B-/C+. And while some are quick to paint Obama the sexist, they are also quick to overlook the racially negative comments made by HRC and Palin on the campaign trail.
Kevin,
My problem is that so far he is all talk no walk. He has appointed a few good women but almost none to real power positions. After the way he has behaved in the last year, he doesn’t get my automatic respect and support “just because.” I don’t feel the need to bend over backward to find things to credit him with. He has to earn credit and respect! I think he is absolutely a sexist and has demonstrated that to me many times. What bothers me most is that other than talk a good game, he has DONE nothing for women and he makes the cover of MS as a feminist? It’s insulting.
I am curious what you mean by racially negative comments made by HRC and Palin. I missed that completely.
If anyone hasn’t had a chance to read Anna Belle’s article yet it’s worth the effort. Lots of angles I hadn’t thought of!!!!
Great job!
http://annabellep.wordpress.co.....supergirl/
I think the Feminist Majority is banking on the passage of the Ledbetter and Paycheck Fairness Acts. They are probably doing this in anticipation of Obama’s passage of these two bills. They, as well as we, have been in the desert for a long time. And when you are in the desert this long, even dirty water tastes good.
I saw a clip last summer with several legislaters including Hillary Clinton, Carolyne Maloney and several others. Ellie Smeal and Kim Gandy were there as well. It was after Clinton dropped out of the primaries and endorsed Obama. The gathering was at the historic home of Alice Paul. Some of you might have seen this clip. I remember the discussion quite clearly. Ellie Smeal in particular was very focused on this legislation. I remember her turning to Hillary and saying that they would get this legislation passed and that Hillary would be there to make sure it gets done.
I wonder if the Ms. Magazine cover has anything to do with Obama signing these bills into law.
ER,
How about Obama embracing misogynistic rap music. “ninty nine problams and a bitch ain’t one of them”? His Iowa primary victory song.
Is there any chance that Ms. Magazine did this not because they think Obama is a feminist but because they want him to act like a feminist?
That if they claim he is a feminist, he won’t deny it, that wouldn’t be politically correct, and he’ll, willingly or not almost be pressured to meet that expectation?
Also, could it be that Ms. Magazine wants to remove the stigma of being called a feminist, and because Obama is so popular with young people, and because they know Obama won’t come out saying he’s not a feminist, young men and women will now think of Obama as a feminist, and they’ll think it’s cool or okay, and they’ll start emulating him, or something like that?
I don’t know if I”m expressing my thoughts very well, but thought I’d throw this out there anyway.
Anne-Marie,
We won’t know for sure until the magazine comes out but if that is the case the cover is very misleading. I truly hope that you are right but I’ll bet we’re going to be disappointed.
I like that your glass is half-full though!
If the article still hasn’t come out, what bets Ms is re-vising it even as we post?
Thia,
This is all old news for me, but when Palin said Obama is “not one of us;’” when HRC says Obama can’t get White votes, when Palin sneering called him “a community organizer” at the Republican National Convention and often said Obama did not see “America like you and I see America,” as a African American male, I viewed these as racial code words. When Ferraro told the Daily Breeze “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept,” she was saying the only reason he was in the position he was was because he was a Black man. Please respect that these words impacted me as racist just like I respect how some of Obama’s words like “sweetie” are sexist and hurtful of women.
Neither three of these candidates were faultless in playing the race or gender cards to win the election.
If HRC had won, or Palin had won, I would still support them, and more importantly, support tangible changes in the work opportunities and benefits for women in this country.
I think one of the most dangerous lies propagated in the election was “Obama is a terrorist sympathizer.”
I believe it sparked racial hatred to such a degee as to put Obama in greater danger than past presidents. I anticipate he’ll be the first US President to spend his entire term behind bullet-proof glass.
I’m thinking about a post for next week on hazards to women that the election’s sexist memes produced.
Kevin, something just dawned on me. All this time I thought you were a white guy. But I realize now that you are probably not. So that realization makes me be more sympathetic to your point of view, and your gripe that racist code words/phrases were used.
I understand your hurt now. And I’m sorry. I think a lot of us who were passionate about politics in this election, and who had something really important to gain or to lose and who saw ourselves in the candidates suffered when those candidates were attacked.
Kevin, an argument that Palin and Hillary may have been “just as bad” in some of the things they said or did regarding issues unrelated to sexism during the campaign doesn’t mitigate Obama’s sexism in a group that was formed to combat sexism. Nor do Palin’s, Hillary’s, or any other woman’s flaws as a candidate disqualify them from support against sexist attack. support against sexist attack is not an endorsement. the bigger picture of each candidate is something for us to weigh and balance as individual voters.
for example, I can’t picture myself ever voting for Claire McCaskill, but when NA puts out a press release calling it out on a public figure who described McCaskill as “shrill”, I support that, because the issue isn’t whether I personally support Claire McCaskill, or that I think other politicians have been “just as bad” as Claire McCaskiil in some regard or other. it’s about giving her an opportunity to get her message out on a playing field that’s been cleared of all the sexist garbage. a level playing field. a fair chance to present herself to voters. at that point she rises or falls on the issues.
NA’s defense of Claire McCaskill was the first time I had to wince at something NA did, but I’m glad it happened, because I realized in my heart of hearts, I DO want McCaskill to have that level playing field. I want every woman to have it so my daughter–so all our daughters–can have the same thing.
Heidi Li’s piece is very good for those who haven’t checked it out (link posted up thread)
I”m on overload. Headed toward burn out. Need a focus as I feel like a dog chasing her tail. Too many issues to address.
Few of us. Many of them.
We have little power. The opposition has major power and their sphere of influence appears boundless.
What is one to do?
Anna, I feel as you do. I am ready to do anything, right now. If there was someone organizing something that I can participate in, that would be visible and big, I would jump on the wagon immediately.
I realize that for me, not having support in real life is a demotivating factor in pursuing any action. So I am beginning to plan meeting with TNA members in my area, and hopefully, we’ll grow the group and start acting soon. I contacted my alma mater (the term translates to “nourishing mother” from Latin, which is even more appropriate b/c it’s a women’s college) for help in connecting with local women’s groups whose members may be interested in joining TNA.
I recommend you start building a local New Agenda team, and then as a group start making decisions and taking actions.
What we need most is grassroots development wherever you are.
Talk to Thia.
Sheryl,
Anne-Marie and I are already hatching evil plots!
Anne-Marie
More power to you. I’m just exhausted. Maybe I need a hiatus to renew myself.
Also, my frame of reference for action is that of a baby boomer who was very active in the 1970’s and early ’80’s. Things have changed to much since then. There are no mass demonstrations. The internet has been great in helping people communicate and organize, but I still think that you can’t beat the visibility of throngs of people marching and/or amassed at one locale voicing a common message.
Meanwhile, on another topic: Where have been the voices of Carol Gilligan and Susan Faludi this year? Does anyone know?
Anna,
I yearn for throngs of people marching and amassed at one locale, that is sort of the vision of the kind of activism I want to do. I hope that’ll still be possible.
But yeah, a break won’t hurt. Go for it!
years back I was in a support group for authors. whenever one of the members had a book out, we’d give the book a “face-out”, meaning whenever we were shopping at a bookstore, we’d take the four or five copies of our friend’s book and turn them cover-out (instead of binding-out) on the shelf. face-outs are more likely to be noticed and bought.
maybe we could do a variation of that with copies of Ms. take another magazine off the shelf, flip through it, and when you put it back, put it back in front of Ms.to reduce its’ chances of being bought in that store. another variation would be to take the copies of Ms. off the shelf, browse through the top copy, and when you put them back, put them back behind ALL the other copies of another magazine. then they’re really buried.
it’s something every member can do as an individual during the normal course of a day whenever shopping at a bookstore, the drugstore, or wherever magazines are available for sale.
even if it doesn’t prevent the sale of that many copies, taking this little action may make you feel better
At the newsstands, while you’re at it, why not insert some flyers into the Ms Magazine telling why it’s objectionable. 8 1/2 by 5 1/2 is a good size (half of a regular sheet of paper), so it isn’t seen till someone actually tries to read the magazine.
Maybe a picture of the same image but what’s on his t-shirt is the Favreau groping picture!
KayJL – Love the idea!
fsteele – Love, love, love the idea!
TNA – Can someone come up with an 81/2 x 11 repro of thte Favreau photo we could insert?
BUT, being my own devil’s advocate, I’d hate to perpetuate that image in the public eye in a way that many might just find ha-ha funny. Perhaps we should have a little bulleted point list of Obama’s non-feminst bs on it. Do a little education/consciousness-raising while we’re at it.
MS. MAG INSERT: HERE’S A DOWN AND DIRTY START. PLEASE ADD IDEAS AND EDIT. I WANNA DO THIS!
———————————————————————————-
BARACK OBAMA….
…did not speak out when his Director of Speechwriting (Jon Favreau) mimed groping a life-size image of our incoming Secretary of State, Senator Hillary Clinton.
….selected for the new head of the DNC (Tim Kaine) a politician who is not clearly pro-choice.
…selected a pastor (Rick Warren) for the invocation on Inauguration Day who thinks domestic violence is not a reason for divorce.
…named a man as part of his economic team (Larry Summers) who thinks women are genetically inferior to men in areas of math and science.
…named only 5 women to his cabinet, less than Bill Clinton and about on par with George Bush.
…has created an economic rescue plan that focused on infrastructure that will result in jobs for men, but few for women.
…paid his female campaign staffers 78 cents on the dollar as compared to his male staffers, just 1 cent above the nation average.
Wake up Women! Wake up America! Barack Obama is no feminist, but he and his campaign surely do a brilliant job of branding.
——————————————————————————
I’d recommend printing it on very bright paper so it stands out.
KayJL
I’m going to do that! I’ll hide the copies of MS behind an issue of “Tractors Today.” Nobody will ever see them!
Anna,
Re staff pay equity, this turned out to not be correct as presented. The point is that Obama hired fewer women and put them in less important jobs in his staff. Iirc of McCain’s top 10 in salary, 7 of 10 were women. Among lower workers and overall, Obama had about 50/50 while McCain had more women in all categories and overall.
The argument is often made that comparing job to job, both staffs paid about the same to women as to men in comparable jobs.
I have a cite for this somewhere….
Anna,
You could also just say, “if you saw the cover of this magazine and said WTF? Come visit us at The New Agenda” and then give the website.
fsteele
Let me know your source. My source was the a highly reputable non partison legislative pay watch dog group. I’ll wait to see your post.
Thanks for the reminder re: the number of women he had in top advisory positions. I’ll add that and wait for the update on the pay number.
When I heard Palin say “Obama doesn’t see America the way we see America,” I thought she referred to his refusal to hold his hand over his heart for our national anthem and his close friendships with Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright who both hate our country.
The New Agenda is one of many groups that sprang up in 2008 which I am really excited about. I keep waiting for a group to start over here so that I can join, but I haven’t seen one yet. Should I start one? I have never organized anything in my life, and I am a bit insecure, but I feel passionately about the New Agenda and I have a strong need to participate in something.
I have been thinking about starting a few groups on campus, but I would feel better reporting back to a person with a higher position. Can I start a New Agenda group on campus?
Thia,
I might add that, but wouldn’t only write that cause I think a LOT of women are utterly clueless as to what went on this year and what is still happening. So, without a bit of education, I don’t think there will be a lot of WTF reaction. Clearly, Obama has a large base of support that is female, many of them even who consider themselves feminists. I suspect they may be quite charmed and amused by the cover.
BTW, I also hate how he is pulling his shirt open like some stripper revealing her breasts. I could puke!
Good point Anna!
Karen,
Check this out in Grassroots
http://thenewagenda.net/grassr.....l-chapter/
And then Email me at newagendateamcaptain@yahoo.com
Anna,
The pose is supposed to be Superman like. But I agree it’s creepy!
Anne-Marie,
Thank you! Yes, I was as hurt from some of the racially toned comments made by HRC and Palin as many of you were by the sexist toned remarks made by Obama and his staff. I also think when it comes to racism, sexism, or ageism, there is no such thing as keeping score, or figuring out who was worse. It is all in the eye (and hearts) of the holder.
What I do agree with the majority of TNA members is that Obama has disappointed me as a women’s rights advocate (and I have fought for women’s rights in the workplace for a long time). I feel let down, as many of you do.
However, that disappointment does not stop me from applauding him when he does right by women and it makes me a fervent supporter of holding him accountable to the Women’s Agenda he had land out.
Thia – Oh, yeah, now I see it: Superman. I did not get that.
Anna,
It’s even more annoying now huh
Hopefully,
The story is constructively critical. The picture is definitely over the top, probably meant to be sarcastic or cynical (excuse spelling)
We have written a op-ed piece to deal with this Ms. fiasco titled “How Feminism Became the F-Word” that will be published tomorrow morning on The Daily Beast.
Anna,
Here’s my source on the McCain/Obama staff salaries etc:
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/.....rcID=35972
It’s a conservative publication but has a lot of detail, apparently carefully considered.
See statements from NOW etc toward the bottom defending Obama. Imo it’s true that for the material given in the article, we can’t do a side by side comparison per exact same job. There may be no exact same job, and also salary may depend on age, experience, etc. However I certainly disagree with the tone of the ‘feminist’ quotes which go on to favor Obama unfairly here.
fsteele
This is where I had researched the salary issues last year. I don’t know how to compare credibility between your source and this one. I haven’t checked yours out yet. I had signed off for the night but had to log back on to take care of something quickly, checked the blog and saw your post, so just putting this up. Will check out your link tomorrow. Thanks for it.
http://www.legistorm.com/
Kevin,
I appreciate your sentement. I agree that with regard to the “isms”, its not a matter of keeping score as to who is victimized more.
But please tell me what racially charged comments did Hillary Clinton make? I honostly didn’t hear any. The MLK-LBJ comment wasn’t racist, just twisted and taken out of context by the MSM, primarily MSNBC. The same was true about the RFK assassenation comment. I listened to the entire interview and the reporting on that was an all out smear. Did I miss something? I know that what some of her supporters said, such as Ferraro, could be construed as questionable. But I believe that Hillary Clinton publically apologized for Ferraro’s comments and Ferarro left the campagn voluntarily. I also know that the MSM, I can’t remember who reported it first, claimed that someone in Clinton’s campaign posted a picture of Obama is Kenyen garb on the internet. But I believe that it was found out later that it was done by others not envolved with her campaign.
My problem with Obama is that he does not address male sexism within his own ranks. If he did, Favreau would have been fired. Burnie Mac made misogynistic jokes at an Obama fundraiser, and Obama blew it off. No apology, nothing!! This shows a lack of respect!! He ignores the sexism, rather than repremanding those who work for him who engage in it!!!. His failure to do so sends a message of approval.
Kevin — HRC never actually said BHO couldn’t get white votes. She said she had the lead in the working class demographic and then modified that to say “white working people” because, I think was clear from the context, she didn’t want to be inaccurate. She did not have the lead in the black working class demographic. I don’t think that in any way stated she didn’t think BHO could get white votes. As per usual, people twisted her factual demographic statement to have a racist meaning.
In fact, if she’d let her earlier statement stand, I think she’d have taken some flack, and possibly deserved, for inaccurately claiming a lead in too broad of a category.
Octogalore,
Part of the point of her statement was that working class whites who supported her represented a large demographic. The interviewer was deliberately trying to down play the size of her following. The white working class is a huge demographic. I don’t understand how acknowledging that was racist or offensive. Calling that statement racist is quite a leap.
The interviewer was working from the stereotypical assumption that the white working class are a bunch of racists, and therefore if they supported Clinton, she was too.. The MSM spewed this shit all through the primaries and continued their war on the white working class, even in the blue states, all through the general election. They insisted that the midwest and Pennsylvania was too racist to vote for Obama and pounded that drum for over a year. It was insulting and obviously not true.
Anna,
I took a quick look at your link, http://www.legistorm.com/, but couldn’t find anything relevant. I would expect that yours and mine are all drawing from the same source. My CNS is not a primary source; legistorm might be closer to some primary.
I don’t expect actual contradictions in the facts.
I was reading through the comments and I agree. There was racism in the election. it was covert. It was covert because racism is not tolerated. The sexism in the election was overt, and it was overt because it is tolerated. Racism is offensive, and not tolerated. Sexism is not offensive to most people and does not require a disguise. Most people don’t even understand the concept. Further sexism was incited by the media throughout the entire election; racism was sought out and actively denounced where suspicions of racism were met.
Re ‘dog-whistles’. In the first use of the term I saw, it meant something similar to ‘code word’. Something that the speaker INTENDS as a signal to a particular group, which he INTENDS not to be noticed/understood by other groups.
Iirc the example given was that when asked, very early maybe last year, about the foreclosure crisis, Obama used the term ’sanctity of contract’ which was said to be a ‘dog-whistle’ to the big money interests that he would be on their side. It was a term familiar and pleasing to the group he wanted to please.
If Obama’s “periodically, when she’s down” was intended as a dog-whistle to anyone, it would be intended for misogynists, hoping it would not be noticed by feminists.
I thought Hillary’s statements about rural, working-class whites were meant to specifically address the problem of racism in that demographic. That is neither overt nor covert racism. It’s not racist to anticipate that racism would be a factor in the election. I thought the way she brought it up showed real integrity, actually, because she didn’t do it in a covert manner, when she easily could have.
Sheryl,
The notion that working class whites are any more racist than wealthy whites is billshit. I am sure there were working class whites who are racist and voted for Clinton over Obama because of it, but to brand the whole demographic and many whole states was outragous. The real racism is primarily within wealthy white male run institutions that have power over poeple, not poor and working class whites who are scraping to get by. Most of them saw that Clinton had a plan to help them, and that is why they voted for her. The media didn’t accuse the latinos of being racist and she was getting their votes by 65%.. The latino’s voted for her for the same reason working class whites did. She gave them a concrete plan of what she would do to help them.
Furthermore, the media didn’t brand men who voted for Obama as sexist, even though clearly some were.
Both MSNBC and CNN trashed the working class and they were obviously wrong, or Obama wouldn’t have won the general election.
Kiuku,
You make a very good point!!!
Kiuku – Great post!
fsteele – At this point in time the data on campaign staffers salaries is no longer on the site cause it’s no longer a current issue. But I do believe they are a highly credible org and becuase they are non-partisan, they just report the facts as they are. Their sole task is salary reporting for political-types. What was interesting was that earlier in the year Obama’s female staffers were at 83 cents on the dollar and then dropped to 78 cents. The figures the org reports are always about 6 months old due to the delay in research, organizing data, and publishing. But it was disturbing to see Obama’s women paid so much less than men, and then even less! Ch-ching! “Change”
KendallJ
“Furthermore, the media didn’t brand men who voted for Obama as sexist, even though clearly some were. ”
I agree that this was yet another aspect of lopsided media coverage, though strickly speaking I don’t know if you could say “though clearly some were.” But, given the degree of sexism out there, it seems safe to assume that among the mllions of men who voted for Obama, some percentage were likely of the ilk that they couldn’t vote for a woman. (Not sure if any pollsters had this as a question.)
no surprise with Donna Brazile on the the staff. she’s not making much off “Cookin with Grease” these days.
disgusting what the woman’s movement has degenerated to.
last time I bought MS was in the 70’s & it was out of touch even then.
Octogalore, I’m sure you know this, but I think it needs to be pointed out that Clinton won a majority of all working class voters, carrying every demo I’m aware of except the Black working class. So while I’m sure she would have gotten flack for her statement as overbroad, it’s also true that she had Latino working class voters, Asian, every catergory of POC working class except Black working class voters, plus the white working class. The edia would love to erase everyone else, but they’re there.
KendallJ, actually the media and many other Obama supporters DID say that latinos must be racist for supporting Clinton, their rationale being, of course, that they don’t like Clinton so there must not be any reason to support her. They don’t care about policy, it doesn’t affect them, so caring about that must be stupid or a cover. I can’t tell you how many times I heard “Latinos hate Black people.” I’m a Black working class woman and I have to agree with you 100% that it’s classist and untrue to act like there’s a special amount of racism in the white working class. I can say personally that I’ve experienced more racism from the upper class. Those Democrats in pacific Heights laughed loud when Obama dissed religion blinded rubes, but while they were patting themselves on the back for their superiority, they weren’t examining their own behavior and seems like they hold more power in society, too.
Kevin, you seem like a nice guy and it’s great that you care about women’s equality, but it’s not really your place to give Obama credit for what he’s doing for women’s equality to a bunch of women any more than it’s some white man or woman’s place to tell you or me that some white pol has a great record on civil rights issues that we just can’t see. We’ll be the judge of that, thanks.
I’m a little late responding but I have to say, as offensive as the concept of this cover is, especially considering the cover is on a feminist magazine, I HAD to laugh out loud. Seriously, I laughed out loud. This image is the most ridiculous image I’ve seen in decades, in so many ways. Whoever is in charge of their marketing and whoever approved this cover is a joke.
I’m glad I live overseas so I can be somewhat sheltered from the fact that we are entering bad times in America. This magazine is just a blatant reminder of that fact.
I am a bit late responding about this too… I just reread Anne’s part about a list of anti-feminist decisions Obama has made., one of which is not selecting pro-choice officials. The implication here is that the selection of pro-life officials is anti-woman. However, New Agenda’s policy states that pro-life women can be as feminist and empowered as pro-choice women, and that the abortion issue has been used to turn women against each other. The Obama campaign used the belief that “pro-life = anti-woman” to attract a larger female audience and spew sexism. The Obama campaign, which is pro-choice, displayed the most horrendous level of sexism anyone has ever seen in decades. Furthermore, Sarah Palin who is pro-life is a strong and powerful woman. With that in mind, I do not believe the selection of pro-life officials counts as sexist.
Karen,
I agree. I would delete that line if I were using her template. That is the old “litmus test” that kept many women out of feminist organizations. We TRY to keep that issue out of our discussions as stated in the FAQ, because it has long been used to divide us and keep us from focusing on the things we DO agree on as women.
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