Stop it, Ms. Albright, you’re ruining everything.

This past weekend, Madeline Albright, the first female Secretary of State and feminist icon, took it upon herself to introduce Hillary Clinton at a rally by implying that young women were going to hell if they didn’t support a female candidate for President. Playing a fast game between guilt-tripping and fundamentalist fear-mongering, Ms. Albright stated:

“We can tell our story of how we climbed the ladder, and a lot of you younger women think it’s done. It’s not done. There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other!”

How dare you, Ms. Albright? How dare you tell women that the only factor they should consider in a candidate’s qualifications is their gender? Isn’t that…well…sexism? Isn’t feminism supposed to be about becoming equal people, all of whom are judged upon their merits, not their sex? Would you seriously confirm the biases and misinformation of those who claim that feminism isn’t about equality, it’s about domination? What the hell is wrong with you, that you would imply young women cannot judge policy platforms and sincerity and intelligence and experience fairly between candidates for themselves, and should only heed the call of the vagina?

No. You recant your statement, and you do it right now. You apologize to all those young women, and to older women, too, who have fought diligently to keep feminism moving forward by sharing it with every new generation.

And while we’re at it, Ms. Gloria Steinem, I can’t even believe what you did. I’m speechless. I’m just going to let your quote stand for itself:

“When you’re young, you’re thinking: ‘Where are the boys? The boys are with Bernie,’ ”

You seriously just said no young woman would support Sanders if she weren’t chasing boys? How the hell does a feminist get to the point that she devalues her fellow women in such a wrongheaded and callous way?

No. You take it back, and you do it right now. Or you’ve lost your feminist creds forever.

We still need feminism. But we need feminist icons who actually respect the intelligence of our young women. You two women just proved you are no longer qualified. Get the hell off the stage.

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4 thoughts on “Stop it, Ms. Albright, you’re ruining everything.”

  1. D

    Well said. Unfortunately those quotes are sign of the state of our current society. Distill things down to their simplest, yet most reactive nature. Forget actually asking folks to think about the range of issues that face the world/nation/state/city you are in and just run with an attention grabbing sound bite that will fan a divisive flame.

    Until the majority of folks say “screw you” to those who follow such tactics (in any political party or group) and begin using their own minds to make a solid determination about what or who best represents what they themselves stand for, I fear this type of thing is doomed to continue.

    Time to stop “dumbing down” the issues to a
    “common” denominator and instead force people to “smarten up” and take a longer and more balanced view of the world in which we all live.

    • celestina

      Yes, I’m really tired of the “Divide and Dog Whistle” trend in American (and, honestly, much European) politics. Find a simple metric and use it to justify an Us vs. Them, All or Nothing approach to complicated issues.

      People *can* be better than that. It’s just easier to pick a single parameter and use it to judge all things. And sadly, when all you hear is marketing to that kind of mindset, it’s hard to remember what you think as a more complicated person.

  2. Jerry Firman

    Wonderful to see you are writing. Glad to see you are a feminist without being offensive. Love you, girl, wish I could see you.

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