Susan Faludi Gets It: Hillary's a Contender
In the Indiana and North Carolina Democratic primary races, white males went to the polls in droves to vote for, guess who. Hillary, the female candidate. This was a shocker for many who assumed that those type voters wouldn't give Hillary the time of day.
The pundits have decided that the only explanation for this strange phenomenon is that white men hate blacks more than they hate women. Well, hold your horses, Chris Matthews and Tim Russert. Susan Faludi has another explanation.
In an op ed in the NY Times today, Faludi lays it out for us. While it's true, Faludi says, white men aren't usually fans of strong women, it's a particular kind of strong woman they have a distaste for. Faludi describes her as "the prissy hall monitor," "the purse-lipped killjoy who passes strait-laced judgment on feral boy fun." Think Susan B. Anthony. Think Tracy Flick.
What men find particularly annoying about this type of woman, Faludi argues, is that they see her as a rules-keeper, not a player--an umpire "who controls the game by application of the rules but who never gets hit."
Well, in this campaign, things have changed. Hillary has been transformed into a different kind of strong woman. As Faludi notes, our culture eats up blood-and-guts sports imagery where "the laurels go to the slugger who ignores the censors, the outrider who navigates the frontier without a chaperone." In this country, it's the contender, not the referee who is admired.
And isn't that what Hillary has changed into in this race, a contender, someone willing if not eager to get down and dirty and mix it up with the boys. Like Thelma in the movie "Thelma and Louise," Hillary's changed. "Something's crossed over in me," Thelma said. The same thing could be said for Hillary. And guess what, says Faludi, that's what those white, male voters are seeing and liking.
Who knows. Maybe there's a lesson in there somewhere for other women afraid to let loose and slug it out 'till the bloody end.
Comments