I Guess I'm Not a "Real" Feminist

Because Gloria Steinem is telling me I have to vote for Hillary Clinton because she is a woman. Funny, I thought being unable to see past a person's gender was sexism. Margaret Thatcher was a woman too, so does that mean Gloria Steinem would have voted for her?

I agree with her closing paragraph

This country can no longer afford to choose our leaders from a talent pool limited by sex, race, money, powerful fathers and paper degrees. It’s time to take equal pride in breaking all the barriers. We have to be able to say: “I’m supporting her because she’ll be a great president and because she’s a woman.”

However, part of being able to look past sex, race, money, powerful fathers, and paper degrees means that we also have to be able to say: "I'm not supporting her because she won't be a great president, her gender is immaterial to that assessment."

Personally, I don't think voting for a woman who achieved her political position due entirely to her role as someone's wife and claims that role (as the wife to a President) as experience which makes her more qualified than others to be forwarding the cause of women's rights.

Where was Gloria Steinem when Elizabeth Dole was running for President? Maybe if Gloria Steinem, and all the woman who so desperately want a woman in the White House they are willing to overlook her political baggage, had gotten behind Dole's bid, she would have been able to make a real run for the position. Can you imagine how different our world would be if we had had a woman president for the last eight years? Or would it not count because Elizabeth Dole is a Republican? In gender politics, as in all other politics, is it all just about the team with which you align yourself?

So, I guess I am not a "real" feminist. Thankfully, I am not alone.