A Question For the Guys...

Does the repeated attack on Hillary Clinton—asserting "she'll do or say anything for power" exist because of her womanhood? No man has ever been seriously challenged on that front. Is our obsession with the tabloidesque destruction of her candidacy through this feckless and unfair accusation a demonstration of something deeper? Is it a patriarchal demon creeping up to a boiling point that we are now having to address? It may be that our culture's antiquated lust for the perceived preservation of female "purity", rooted in misogynistic traditions tracing back to our origins might in fact be at battle with our natural human inclinations towards progress.

Are we uneasy with seeing a woman roll her sleeves up and make a choice to engage in a realm historically dominated by men? Why? Does that make her "dirty"? Do we assume that politics and deception are synonymous while we continue to engage politics with that alleged "reality" out of sight and out of mind?

It appears clear that while we address this dichotomy, we are met with having to face a formidable female presidential candidate, which unearths another anxiety—the emasculation of our "traditions", one that we assume is inherently corrupt, and one that a woman like Hillary Clinton seems to dominate. It feels as if this jumble of conflict within ourselves sends our intellect into fight or flight mode, more often the latter. I think we can agree that one of the the most detrimental weaknesses of our society is an inability thus far to shake that blockade to progress that we so desperately covet and need.

The easier path seems to be the one which brands Hillary Clinton and successful women in general as cunning, conniving and inherently wicked. In our struggle with facing this flawed thinking, why do we gravitate towards the worst of its faux implications? Why do we run with our deepest fears of what we believe politics might be, and use them to paint distinguished and successful women as corrupted, megalomaniacal wretches who will stop at nothing to achieve power?
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In some ways politics have become more corrupt; but thanks to social media, progressive regulation and oversight, that corruption has become more transparent. While we've known this shift, why have we chosen to address this existential crisis now? And why do we brand the problem as Hillary Clinton? Is it a coincidence? Is it her gender that has brought us to an ethical coming to Jesus? And in that quest, that purge and crusade towards purification, have we not brought back the tradition of witch hunting? And who is the target of this zealotry? Could it be Hillary Clinton, the accomplished woman? Could it be her candidacy for President of the United States? Would we do it to a man in 2016, or is this just misogyny?

*Photo from CNN

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