This election has taken me back 30 years to the times when the ‘good old boys’ club ran everything and the women were kept home in the kitchen, because (supposedly) that is where they belonged. Yup, I thought that this kind of thinking from men left us a long time ago. But, this elections has shown me that there is still a contingency of men who use sexual degradation, physical threats, personally condescending rhetoric, and downright mental and emotional abuse to try to control the women in their lives. Those men showed their ugly faces throughout this campaign. And, all of that was heaped on Hillary Clinton.

If you are young, you may wonder why this has happened. It may have caught you off guard, but we older women have seen this before. But, I do have to admit that I have never seen this blatant of a public display of pure, unadulterated, sexism and female degradation. Not only has it occured  and been condoned during this election,, it has been repeatedly applauded by the majority of this contingent. And, the candidate for hope and change, who could have had the maturity, clout, and courage to stand up and say “No women should have to endure this type of sexual degradation and personal attack.  If you support me, I ask you to stop this NOW!”; well, he just sat there with a smirk on his face. He could have stopped all of this with one flowery speech. But, of course, he didn’t. I have to assume, since he didn’t, that he doesn’t believe that women deserve that type of consideration and respect.

No one was making sexually degrading remarks about Barack Obama.  No one was telling him to get back to his shoe shine kit.  No one was calling him a bast-rd.  Why?  Because Hillary was our power of example.  We learned from her leadership not to fight filth with filth; hate with hate; degradation with degradation; and sexual harrassment with sexual harrassment.  She kept all of us reaching for a higher level than that type of gutter talk and action.  Thank God!

The only change I see Barack Obama offering me is a huge step backward in the slow progress for women’s rights.  He is NOT the man I want in my house, especially my White House.  All he has shown me is a lack of conviction to ‘do the right thing’ and a total lack of courageous leadership.  His actions speak volumes on where he thinks women belong in this society.

Mark It!