Democratic Gender Play: Pansies and Testicular Fortitude

I have long been fascinated by the complex gender politics at play in the Democratic primary, where a woman for the first time has the chance to win the historically macho job of president. But I have not looked closely at the topic since last summer, when surrogates used to introduce Hillary Clinton as the one who would "stand up to bullies." Since then, the gendered rhetoric has certainly ramped up on the Clinton side. Michael Tomasky, over at The Guardian, brings this somewhat critical dispatch:

Twice this week now, Hillary Clinton has stood there smiling like the Cheshire Cat as the governor of North Carolina used the word "pansy" and then as a union leader in the same state, who more famously referred to her "testicular fortitude", went on to inveigh that Hillary was the only thing that stood between the good and God-fearing people of North Carolina and the "Gucci-wearing, latte-drinking, self-centred, egotistical people that have damaged our lifestyle."

Oh my. For more, see here.