Stereotypes About Women

Thought leaders from around the femisphere are swarming to protect Hillary Clinton. The most risible has to be Amanda Marcotte's tweet from yesterday.

The sad truth is the anti-Clinton narrative relies on ancient stereotypes about women being untrustworthy. https://t.co/lXxEGNVIuL

— Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) March 20, 2016

That is the first time anyone ever heard of this "ancient stereotype." There are lots of commonly accepted female stereotypes: They are bad drivers, they never shut up, they like to shop, and they are attracted to high-status men.

We may never know if Hillary Clinton is a bad driver. She hasn't driven a car herself since 1996. Her car did injure a police officer in 2001 when it breezed past an airport checkpoint, but to be fair, she wasn't driving it at the time.

One stereotype about women getting a lot of hype recently, is that assertive women are "bitchy." There was an effort by Sheryl Sandberg a few years ago to eliminate the word "bossy," from the language. The author of Lean In was concerned that the word "bossy" was having a negative effect on young women. But the same women who protest the word "bossy" are silent about the word "bitchy."

Perhaps "bitchy" is the n-word for women. "Hey, that's our word! You can't use it! Only we can use it!"

Another stereotype about women is that they look horrible when they age. They get droopy and jowly and ugly. Their hair changes from shiny and lustrous to dry and wispy. Their eyes change from bright and clear to dull and cloudy.

Still another adage about women, is that they are not as smart as men. Oh, but ask any woman whether she thinks women are smarter, and they will answer "yes." The fact is, men are distributed farther from the mean intelligence. A man is much more likely to be a genius than a woman.

Yet another cliche is that women are emotionally unstable. Their menstrual cycles affect their moods in ways that men never have to deal with. Does this instability diminish with age? At this point, what difference does it make?

If there is a stereotype about old women being ugly, emotionally unstable bitches, then Hillary wears it as effortlessly as her butch haircut and pantsuit.

But is there a stereotype for women being untrustworthy? That is a purely Clintonian hallmark.