October 20th, 2008
The sexism directed at Sarah Palin in this campaign has grown more and more vicious as we get
closer to Election Day. It is prompting us to comment again, even though on September 15th
WEPAC already issued a statement saying that we would not tolerate sexism directed at
Governor Palin any more than we tolerated the sexism directed at Hillary Clinton in the primary
campaign.
The latest outrage – proudly worn t-shirts at Obama rallies saying “Sarah Palin is a Cunt” and
“progressive” hosts on Air America, including Mike Malloy and Randi Rhodes, regularly
referring to “McCain and his ho” – are not directed at Governor Palin because she is a
Republican. They are attacking her because she is a woman. If Republicans were wearing t-
shirts saying Senator Biden is a “prick” or a “shriveled dick”, we would condemn that as well. It
is not happening. No one attacks politicians because of their male genitalia. But it is acceptable
in our deeply misogynistic culture to attack women politicians on the basis of their gender.
A few other women’s groups, most notably Women Count Pac and The New Agenda, have
issued statements condemning the sexism directed at Governor Palin, but too many groups have
been silent. We call on all women’s organizations, regardless of who they are endorsing in this
campaign, to speak out against this treatment of any woman candidate for office.
We also call on the leaders of the Democratic Party, including Senators Obama, Biden and Reid,
as well as, Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Dean, to demand that their supporters stop sexist,
gender-based attacks on women candidates.
The mainstream media recently had extensive coverage on attacks on Senator Obama shouted out
by certain McCain supporters that were racist, questioning whether or not the McCain campaign
has encouraged racism. We also call on the media to examine the sexist behavior of supporters of
Senator Obama and delve into the issue of whether that campaign has encouraged sexism.
This is not the time for silence about sexism, regardless of the ticket we support for President.