Why women can't win

CNN: California governor candidates spar over 'whore' remark

Honestly, I am absolutely disgusted that this is even an issue.  California's Democratic gubernatorial candidate (and current CA Attorney General) Jerry Brown is in the spotlight for using the word 'whore' in comments about the Republican candidate Meg Whitman.

Of course, the conversation in question was 'private' and the campaign has apologized for the comment.  But that's not really the issue.  The issue is, why is it acceptable to degrade female politicians and candidates simply based on their sex?  Bitch, whore, slut... the list goes on and on of what politicians find appropriate to call their female opponents.  The kicker is that anytime a woman actually speaks out against this, she is automatically labeled a crybaby or complainer, with people telling her to suck it up, that she should grow some thicker skin if she really wants to make it in politics.  It makes me so furious- you never see gender-based attacks against male politicians!

The thing that really gets me is the comments section on the CNN website for this article.  So many commenters see this as a joke, continuing to call Ms. Whitman a whore (which considering her background as former CEO of eBay, I'm pretty sure is false).  I think this is my 'favorite' piece of commentary.  And by 'favorite' I mean 'most despicable':

It's so nice to see that gender-based violence (since not all violence must be physical) is still so easily prevalent in the United States.  God forbid a woman run on the merits of her own beliefs; instead, we are all forced to run on the basis of what's in between our legs.  The Frisky recently had an article about these gender-based attacks, and how they have made it harder for women to be successful in running for office.

Attacks and comments such as these make it very hard for women to be seen as serious, intelligent candidates.*  With women making the majority in all forms of higher education (undergraduate and graduate), it is astonishing that only 16.8% of Congresspersons are women.  Unfortunately, Washington is still very much the good 'ole [white] boys club.  People are making some noise over the fact that we now have three female sitting justices on the Supreme Court (Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan).  However, that is still 33%, not close to representing the actual gender makeup of this nation.  However, they are doing much better than Congress as a whole, so it is a positive step.**

The American culture on both sides can be partly to blame for this.  The movie Mean Girls makes an excellent point when Tina Fey's character says, "...you all have got to stop calling each other sluts and whores.  It just makes it ok for guys to call you sluts and whores."  Women can be so vindictive, catty, and just downright mean to each other that it seriously hinders gaining respect.

Men, too, are part of the problem.  While I realize not all men are misogynists or blatantly sexist, there is still a culture of disrespect when it comes to women.  As men have been the traditional power-holders, they are not used to it when their power is threatened by outsiders.  In regards to women, they react the only way they know how- by degrading them sexually.  In politics, it's an easy cop-out.  When you can't argue against a woman's political viewpoints, argue against her vagina!  It's something easy to point out.

I think both genders need to seriously work at discounting this type of gender bias.  It is unfair to hold women to a completely different standard than men when they are both vying for the same position.  It happens all over in so many fields, but this is so visible.  If we all want to make an impact in changing the discourse around gender, the first area we should start is politics.

*Exception: Sarah Palin.  While I denounce gender-based attacks on her, it doesn't change the fact that she's a fucking idiot.
**Even more awesome?  If someday we had a female Chief Justice!