Bonnie Grabenhofer, president of Illinois NOW, told reporters she’s sick and tired of the misogynistic language that’s used against women — “Hillary, iron my shirt” — that elicits too little if any outrage among Democratic party leaders.
Other mysognistic statements and behavior by men
IL NOW pres. Bonnie Grabenhofer “said the six-year-old
allegations are troubling, but there are still reasons to
support Hull.” Grabenhofer “said voters need to balance those
private allegations with Hull’s public commitment to women’s
issues” (Chicago Sun-Times, 2/28). Grabenhofer: “The whole
thing raises some troubling questions. Just that it happened.
But I don’t know if this one incident that happened a number of
years ago undoes what he has done.” Grabenhofer “cited Hull’s
work supporting abortion rights groups financially and his
support of his daughter’s Supreme Court battle to preserve Title
IX” (Krol, Arlington Heights Daily Herald, 2/29).
One of the problems with what Grabenhofer and Jones advocate is that they both assume that their brand of identity politics should be the dominant form. I don’t believe identity politics are uncalled for as do those who seem to think that racism and sexism don’t mean that women and minority groups don’t have common shared interests. Of course, identity politics exist if racism and sexism exist.
There’s no realization by Jones that sexism was so present in the campaign and Grabenhofer shows no grasp that Obama faced racism from the media and party–and media is still doing it with Joe Scarborough making today’s list of morons.
It’s just another group of people who view the world through 1968 and continue be at odds with each other instead of common threats to their interests. It’s perfectly legitimate to complain about the sexism Clinton faced. However, Grabenhofer seems to change her standards. I cannot say what Marin’s colleague was saying, but there are a lot of people younger than Grabenhofer’s generation who think Illinois Yesterday is a perfect description of a group headed by two people who cannot keep their story straight on abortion votes in the Illinois Lege and don’t seem to hold everyone to the same standard.