Hilarity ensues! Hillary Clinton gives an interview to Lena Dunham that is all about "gender"–and then Lena complains that the media uses "gendered language" in discribing Hillary!
Confused already? Well, here goes:
Politico reports:
Clinton will discuss campaign issues that resonate with Dunham’s target audience, like student debt and women’s health. In the clip, Dunham, dressed in a checkered jumper, sits across from Clinton in a folding chair and asks: “Do you consider yourself a feminist?”
“Yes,” Clinton responds. “Absolutely. I’m always a little bit puzzled when any woman of whatever age, but particularly a young woman, says something like, ‘well, I believe in equal rights but I’m not a feminist.’ Well, a feminist is by definition someone who believes in equal rights. I’m hoping that people will not be afraid to say, that doesn’t mean you hate men, it doesn’t you want to separate out the world, so you’re not a part of ordinary life — that’s not what it means at all! It just means that we believe that women have the same rights as men.”
Clinton's message fits in with her efforts to make gender central to her campaign, framing women’s issues like equal pay, childcare, and paid sick leave, as major economic issues.
After teasing an excerpt of her upcoming interview with Hillary Clinton — in which the Democratic frontrunner says she is “absolutely” a feminist — Girls creator and star Lena Dunham called into CNN Thursday afternoon to share some more details of their conversation and her feelings about the candidate.
“Really what we wanted was just to present Hillary — outside of being just a presidential candidate — as a feminist role model, as someone who represents so much of what is interesting and challenging and unique about being a woman in America at this time,” Dunham told CNN’s Kate Bolduan. “And I do think we expect really different things, in terms of likability from our female candidates, than we do from our male candidates.”
When people use terms like “warm” and “likable” and “relatable” in relation to Clinton’s campaign, Dunham said those are “frustrating terms” to her because “they seem really gendered.”
So what did you expect, Lena, about someone who makes "gender central to her campaign"?
Actually, Hillary's problem is that she doesn't generate enough "gendered" language from the media–because "warm" and "likable" just don't seem to be adjectives that attach themselves to Hillary, no matter how hard she tries.
Here's the New York Times's Amy Chozick:
In extensive interviews by telephone and at their Brooklyn headquarters last week, Mrs. Clinton’s strategists acknowledged missteps — such as their slow response to questions about her email practices — and promised that this fall the public would see the sides of Mrs. Clinton that are often obscured by the noise and distractions of modern campaigning.
They want to show her humor. The self-effacing kind (“The hair is real, the color isn’t,” she said of her blond bob recently, taking note of Mr. Trump) has played better than her sarcastic retorts, such as when she asked if wiping a computer server was done “with a cloth.”
They want to show her heart, like the time she comforted former drug addicts in a school meeting room in New Hampshire….
Whether the blueprint her strategists are preparing will be enough to overcome Mrs. Clinton’s weaknesses is an open question. Some pollsters have pointed to a likability problem with the former first lady, and, in presidential contests, the more likable candidate typically wins….
Asked about a moment they regret, Ms. Palmieri paused and then quickly settled on the rope the campaign used to corral reporters at a Fourth of July parade in New Hampshire that became a symbol of Mrs. Clinton’s distance from the small-town celebration. A less intrusive rope had also been used to control crowds at other events.
A "less intrusive rope"! That sounds pretty "gendered" to me!
Hillary can only hope that somebody somewhere will think she's "warm" and "likable"–please!
