Saturday, May 10, 2008

FYI: Not all women vote the same

According to this article, there is a deep divide among feminists over who should be the Democratic candidate, surprising isn't this. I mean don't all women vote the same, don't they all share the same brain and the same thoughts, well don't they. Oh yeah that is right, feminists are people and people have different thoughts from each other. Just as not all men vote the same, then not all women will vote the same. And if not all women will vote the same, than that means that not all feminists will vote the same. This is yet another article which tries to make everything black and white in this Democratic campaign. Apparently, since there are a variety of different opinions among feminists on the blogoshere and in the main stream media there is this huge divide. The feminists will forever be divided and if we do not unite soon, than our vote will be meaningless in all future elections ever according to this article. This article does nothing, but talk about how the two sides are basically warring. There is even a quote where Clinton supporter Gloria Feldt, former president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, says, "We're squandering an opportunity to be seen as a voting bloc that turns elections. Unless we are working together, in a strategically thought-out effort to vote in our own best interests, we are in danger of never having another election where people will say women can determine the outcome." Now I hope this is taken out of context and I am sure there was more to it than this, but really is this article and this quote really saying that if women do not all vote for Obama or all for Clinton, than every politician can forget about the female vote forever. I don't think anyone who discounts 50% of the population has much of a chance anyway. The final thing I can say is that there is a lot of worry about if the opponent's supporters will support the candidate even if it isn't their candidate, well I am not seeing many feminist voting for McCain, so it is not like he will get these votes. Sure there is a possibility that Clinton supporters (I am sorry to make this conclusion, but I just can't seem to find a way for Obama to lose at this point) will not vote in the general election and that would hurt Obama and we as feminist and feminist supporters (remember I have issues calling myself a feminist) need to vote for whoever the Democratic candidate is against McCain, but still McCain is not getting the feminist vote anyway. So yes, there are differing opinions in the feminist movement, but so what. Not all men vote the same, so why can't women have differing opinions as well.

1 comment:

BAC said...

Boxer, I think the point Feldt was trying to make is that politicians seem to only care about "groups of people" who can get them elected. Women were only really taken seriously when we began to register, and vote, in greater numbers than men. By voting as a "block" we have the potential to increase that power, because we become that much more important/valuable to any candidate who wants to be elected.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to meet two really wonderful lesbians who live in PA. They were retired, and therefore had a lot of time to research candidates. They had an email list of more than 1000, and the people on this list trusted the two women's judgment about who would be the best candidate on LGBT issues.

This was in a district where some elections were won or lost by as few as 10 votes. Guess what? Those two women were solid gold to any candidate who wanted to have a prayer of winning. What this meant to the LGBT community at large is that any candidate who wanted to be considered HAD to be good on LGBT issues, or they probably wouldn't win.

Meeting them taught me a valuable lesson on just how powerful an organized group can be.

Should Obama be the nominee he is going to need to do serious work to win over Clinton supporters. His supporters have made some rather vile comments about Sen. Clinton that are not going to be quickly forgotten.

I have heard more than one feminist say that while they will not vote for McSame, they might just stay home. Obama can't win without these voters, so he will need to do some serious courting.


BAC