Left: Words said about female presidential candidates and politicians. Right: A stock image of women. (Design by Laura E. Adkins for JTA\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
It\u2019s a trope as old as time \u2014 reframe a strong, ambitious woman as a bitch. Pit two women against each other. Tell a woman to smile. What\u2019s next? Publicly worrying that once a month she might become \u201chysterical\u201d?<\/p>\n
Add racism, and all of this is heightened further if the candidate is also a woman of color. If this is what we\u2019re hearing from allies of Biden, what\u2019s going to happen once the Republicans weigh in?<\/p>\n
Get ready, folks. The tap of misogyny has opened and the floodwaters are about to pour forth.
My own organization, Jewish Women International, represents more than 120 years of standing and fighting at the forefront of social justice issues \u2014 violence against women and girls, access to health care, systemic inequity. Through it all, we have had to continually push back against negative stereotypes that seek to diminish us. <\/p>\n
We think back on our early years of raising the issue of domestic violence in the Jewish community only to be told it didn\u2019t happen \u2014 or were countered with stories of \u201cnice Jewish boys\u201d and their \u201cnagging\u201d wives.<\/p>\n
We are at once the loudmouthed, overly ambitious troublemakers and annoying, anxiety-producing mothers living only through the success of our children. We are the backbone of our community organizations and passed over as unqualified for the top seats. We are Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, yet are mocked as Sylvia Fine (\u201cThe Nanny\u201d), Susie Green (\u201cCurb Your Enthusiasm\u201d) and Mrs. Wolowitz (\u201cThe Big Bang Theory\u201d). <\/p>\n
For those of us who work to end intimate partner violence, we know that at the root of violence and aggression is power and control. And nothing is more threatening than a powerful woman \u2014 not even a powerful man. <\/p>\n
A powerful woman is somehow emasculating. Think of these early critiques of the possibility of Harris as Biden\u2019s running mate. How dare she have successfully challenged him during the primary debates! Had a man made the same provocations, his being named as the VP candidate would have been lauded as a brilliant move.<\/p>\n
Hillary Clinton faced this in 2016. Peter Beinart, in the October 2016 issue of The Atlantic, reported pins at the Republican National Convention that read \u201cTrump 2016: finally someone with balls.\u201d And, \u201cLife\u2019s a bitch: don\u2019t vote for one.\u201d Even a T-shirt reading \u201cHillary sucks but not like Monica.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, there are also the quieter, more subtle remarks \u2014 \u201cshe doesn\u2019t look presidential\u201d or \u201cthere\u2019s just something about her I don\u2019t like.\u201d And don\u2019t get us started on the fashion critiques, or the slut shaming that our young women share during our workshops on campus sexual assault.<\/p>\n
We faced the wrath of online trolls just a few years ago when we were working on a program to prevent get abuse in the Jewish community and were trolled on our Facebook page by men stating the women \u201cclaiming\u201d to be agunot \u2014 women seeking a Jewish divorce who are trapped in a marriage \u2014 were actually \u201cgolddiggers.\u201d<\/p>\n
So we know what\u2019s coming. And more than the whispered \u201cconcerns\u201d about likability that are festering and growing in the back rooms of political consultant\u2019s offices is the hate that will spew on social media.
Allowed to run free, misogynist campaigns are even more insidious on social media because of the inherent echo chamber. We live in a world driven by clickbait. Anti-Semitism, misogyny and hate are not only allowed to grow and become weaponized online, platforms intentionally push them to our newsfeeds. People click on the sensational. And platforms have advertising fees and revenue driven by clicks; their newsfeed algorithms are created to amplify incendiary content. <\/p>\n
We expect better, especially from Facebook, whose COO Sheryl Sandberg, herself a Jewish woman, boldly exerted us to \u201cban bossy.\u201d In fact, her site banbossy.com explains on its homepage: \u201cWhen a little boy asserts himself, he\u2019s called a \u2018leader.\u2019 Yet when a little girl does the same, she risks being branded \u2018bossy.\u2019 Words like bossy send a message: don\u2019t raise your hand or speak up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sandberg understands. She knows how words are used to fortify the glass ceiling. Girls can\u2019t grow up to be president (or vice president) \u2014 after all, they are bossy or whiny or petty or don\u2019t smile enough. So then why isn\u2019t she doing more to raise awareness on her own platform? If we can pledge to stop calling middle-school girls bossy, how about we do the same for vice presidential candidates?<\/p>\n
Of course, we\u2019re screaming into the void. Sandberg and others will stand silently behind their calls for \u201cfree speech\u201d as female candidates are skewered. \u201cBan bossy\u201d only applies when there isn\u2019t advertising to be sold. <\/p>\n
But we know. And we\u2019ll be watching. And we\u2019ll be calling out the misogyny and disinformation and the efforts to depress the vote.<\/p>\n
After all, we\u2019re strong, Jewish women. We know what it means to stand up and speak out.<\/p>\n
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