For the first time in our history we have both an African American and a women as possible Presidential candidates. And while racist language may not be an issue in the 2008 Democratic Presidential Campaign, it appears sexist language is.
A recent news piece on the Fox network spoke of Barack Obama using sexist language when speaking about Hillary Clinton. While I could not find anything on this piece, I did find a blog at abcnews.com which made reference to newsroom conversations between female reporters about instances of sexist language used by Obama. And bloggers also cite instances of sexist language by John McCain.
Examples of this language by Obama include:
"You challenge the status quo and suddenly the claws come out"
"I understand that Senator Clinton, periodically when she's feeling down, launches attacks as a way of trying to boost her appeal."
The author writes: " 'Claws'...'feeling down'...I find it hard to envision Obama using the same language if he were facing, say, former Sen. John Edwards, D-NC."
To read the entire blog go to
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/02/is-obama-using.html.
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2 comments:
Dori,
I agree but when it comes to politics, it is a very touchy subject. It is great to see an African American and a woman running for the campaign. I do however agree there are some sexist comments being presented against the woman deligate. To me, no matter how educated women are this day and age, there is always some sort of bias in every way we look at it.
Fantastic catch on your part! I feel so good when I read posts like this one...not because of the content but that you are seeing what you are reading and experiencing in a new way...and applying gender communication. Excellent application. Now, that she has suspended her campaign, I wonder if we will hear and see racist language come into play. It would have been intersting if she stayed in the race and won the nomination, what language might we have seen? It has been such an issue her gender so how could they have used this language at this point!
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