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Go Home The Tnr Primary: Erica Jong

THE PLANK JANUARY 30, 2008

The Tnr Primary: Erica Jong

In the newest issue of the magazine, fourteen eggheads and eminences
wrote short essays announcing whom they'd be voting for and why. We'll be
unveiling these responses on The Plank throughout the next two weeks.
This is what Erica Jong, author of Fear
of Flying, had to say:

Women
are always in the wrong--particularly in politics. Our culture is sexist, and
we don't even see it. Gloria Steinem said, "We'll do anything not to elect
a woman." Women are attacked whenever we go public. Think of Eleanor
Roosevelt, Bella Abzug--and Hillary Clinton. So Clinton has run a gauntlet. All her life.
From Wellesley
student to Yale student to lawyer to governor's wife to First Lady to senator
to presidential candidate. I get it. I've run that gauntlet on a much smaller
scale--and I don't even want to live in the White House.

My
heart goes out to her. I admire her tenacity, her grit, and her courage. I do
not find her an automaton. I find her real. True, I hated her voting for the Iraq war resolution and voting for that creepy Iran
resolution. But maybe she was trying to be a politician. Anyway, if she had a
penis, nobody would have cared.

Related: The complete "TNR Primary."

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31 comments

Oh my gosh, Erica, I'd vote for Maggie Thatcher in a heart beat.  And if she were in her prime and could run in America now, she'd have the Republican nomination by acclamation.

It's not "women" it's which woman.  You know, just like with men.  Which of the current male candidates is not getting roundly skewered from some corner or another?

This "women can't catch a break" thing is so calcified now.  Roll out the right woman in the right place at the right time, and she'll have whatever she wants.

A terribly flawed woman like Hillary (carrying heavy baggage like Bill to boot) is not going to get in on a pass, that's for sure.

- ChanRobt

January 30, 2008 at 3:15pm

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"But maybe she was trying to be a politician. Anyway, if she had a penis, nobody would have cared."

Hmmmm. It mattered in 2004, when Howard Dean surged against (male) John Kerry (and others) and Kerry changed his position to deal with anti-war furor. It mattered in 2006 when liberal activists overthrew (male) Joe Lieberman for supporting the war. So women are allowed to calculate but men aren't? Or is it that women are allowed to support the biggest tragedy in a generation in order to push their general election poll numbers up like 0.5%? Dizzying.

"So Clinton has run a gauntlet. All her life. From Wellesley student to Yale student to lawyer to governor's wife to First Lady to senator to presidential candidate."

Governor's wife and First Lady is quite a gauntlet! It's quite a personal achievement to win those offices - and an acheivement that a woman can obtain without the help of a man! Good for her doing that all by herself.

"Women are always in the wrong--particularly in politics"

Bull@#$#@. Stop selling your gender short by spreading this misconception about sexism. Some women are great speakers, some women are talented politicians, and some women can tell the truth and not support the biggest debacle in 25 years. Hillary is none of these things.

If she had a penis, she wouldn't have a prayer, because she'd be laughed off the stage (like Mitt Romney) for strategic crying and crass political calculation.

- virginiacentrist

January 30, 2008 at 3:16pm

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That last line puzzled me when I read it in print, and I still don't understand it. If Hillary were a man, "nobody would have cared" that she cast cynical, calculating votes in favor of a war? Really? John Kerry would seem to have had a penis in 2004, and in fact plenty of voters cared that he cast cynical votes in favor of the same war. Is Jong making a larger point that male politicians aren't judged on the basis of whether their actions in office reflect the preferences of voters but Hillary is being judged on that basis? I just don't get what she's trying to say with that closing sentence.

- rhubarbs

January 30, 2008 at 3:16pm

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If she had a penis, she wouldn't be a serious candidate at all. She's the junior senator from New York. Period. The only reasons she's at all note-worthy are 1: She's a woman, and 2: She was married to Bill Clinton.

Could she have made her way on her own, had she chosen to? I don't know; I kind of doubt it, because I don't think she's very politically deft. But regardless of whether she could have, in this world she didn't.

- Ivanova

January 30, 2008 at 3:19pm

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By the way, the first two women you bring up as examples of the unfairly attacked-- Eleanor Roosevelt and Bella Abzug.  They were both rather eccentric people.

Eleanor could not help her looks, her voice, and her peculiar elocution.  But, a man then or now with similar ambitions and the equivalent wizened buck-toothed looks and strained rhetorical style would have suffered much the same as Eleanor did.  Although you can also argue that in the final analysis, Eleanor Roosevelt was successful and effective.

Meanwhile, Bella Abzug was both naturally a bit eccentric, and also, with her hats and such, went out of her way to accentuate her peculiarities as a way to brand herself and get attention.  Again, do you think a male politician who sported funny hats would escape remarks upon it?

I'll counter those to with Senator Feinstein.  I'm a constituend of hers and I've never hear her mocked or dissed.  She is respected by her opponents and revered by her supporters.

Now, Barbara Boxer, that's another matter.

- ChanRobt

January 30, 2008 at 3:24pm

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Hillary Clinton has her merits. She has some experience and is very intelligent. She's also a decent political fighter against hte GOP.

But I find this promotion based on victimhood crap to be very, very, very disturbing. Maybe I have some sort of sexist streak deep down in my subconsciousness. Maybe that's why I can't understand the merits of promotion due to victimhood. Please psychoanalyze me or tell me I'm right...

- virginiacentrist

January 30, 2008 at 3:27pm

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"Our culture is sexist"; "women are always in the wrong"; "we'll do anything not to elect a woman"; "women are attacked whenever we go public." I'm not a woman, but I feel like most women would disagree with this assessment, at least in this simplistic form.

I also think that many women who would agree with this assessment are still capable of recognizing that America's future is too important to be voting based on personal sympathy or gender solidarity. If Jong thinks Hillary is actually the better presidential candidate, then she ought to explain why. She sort of begins to -- citing Hillary's admirable personal qualities -- but then she says that she "hated" Hillary's vote for the Iraq war (a pretty significant issue), which Hillary's only rival opposed. And that's that.

The "if she had a penis, nobody would have cared" line is nonsensical.  Nobody would have cared about her trying to be a politician? Supporting the war? Uh, sure they would have. Plenty of male candidates have been attacked on this point.  I'm actually surprised Hillary's war vote hasn't been a bigger issue in this campaign, given how angry many Democrats are about it (including, apparently, Jong herself). What is Jong talking about?

- Androscoggin

January 30, 2008 at 3:40pm

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This post needed more zip.

- teplukhin2you

January 30, 2008 at 3:44pm

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Hillary Clinton is intelligent and skilled in many ways. But none of this gets mentioned. Rather the whole rationale stated in this post for supporting her is because she's the victim of sexism. Well, in that case, my wife for prez. She faces as much sexism as Sen. Clinton every single day. Plus, my wife didn't vote for the war in Iraq.

- miceelf

January 30, 2008 at 3:45pm

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Hey, me and some other people left some comments here a couple of days ago.  Were they removed purposely or was it just routine TNR website incompetence?

- hewstino

January 30, 2008 at 3:48pm

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This is ridiculous from the first word to the last - paternalistic, dated.  I am a liberal feminist woman who gives Hillary Clinton the respect of not trusting her or wanting her as our nominee on her own merits.

- Wandreycer1

January 30, 2008 at 3:49pm

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it took me a minute to get that Tep -

- Wandreycer1

January 30, 2008 at 3:51pm

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I'm a woman. I would like to think that my decision not to vote for Hillary Clinton has nothing to do with sexism, and everything to do with an evaluation of her merits (or, as I believe, a lack thereof).

Can it really be that she is such an ideal candidate that the only POSSIBLE reason one would have to criticize her is her lack of a penis? That no one would criticize anyone with a penis for lack of authenticity, dirty campaign tactics, and a vote for the war? I seem to recall criticisms of these sorts aimed at penis-bearers.

I care about the positions of the candidates, their personae, and their ethics. Not their genitalia. Please don't patronize me by telling me why I'm REALLY voting the way I am, or why I really should vote otherwise.

You do women a disservice by overdefining sexism, and playing victim.

- epicciuto

January 30, 2008 at 3:55pm

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"If she had a penis, she wouldn't be a serious candidate at all." Maybe so. But if Obama weren't black he would not be a serious candidate, either. Not yet, anyway. Too young and inexperienced.  

- r-ennis

January 30, 2008 at 3:56pm

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The irony is that Jong, as a woman who has succeeded in a male-dominated yet ruthlessly meritocratic profession, has probably gone through much more trying "gauntlets" than Hillary Clinton ever has. Ask Laura Bush how tough the "gauntlets" are that face the wife of an ambitious politician. I doubt that they really compare with the barriers facing a woman trying to succeed on her own merits in literature or any other field. When my wife talks about her day at work, I often catch myself thinking that a man in her position wouldn't have to deal with some of the inter-office crap that comes her way. That's a gauntlet, and it's a real issue for all working women, and I think it cheapens the accomplishments of the vast majority of women like Jong and my wife and my mother and nearly every other woman politician in America to compare their barriers to the "challenges" of being an elected man's wife.

- rhubarbs

January 30, 2008 at 4:06pm

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Wandrey, thanks for saying what I mean more amusingly and more concisely!

- epicciuto

January 30, 2008 at 4:07pm

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r-ennis, any politician, man or woman, black, white, Latino, or Asian/Pacific-Islander, who gave the address Obama gave to the convention in 2004, and gave it as well as Obama did, and then went on a commanding Senate win in a state that had been trending Republican statewide, that candidate would have been taken seriously this year.

Of course, we all know that an inexperienced white candidate could never be taken seriously just because he gives one thoughtful and inspiring national speech. I mean, seriously, did anyone really think that redneck upstart Lincoln could beat President Douglas?

- rhubarbs

January 30, 2008 at 4:15pm

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well epicciuto - that certainly had to be a first, you usually say in one sentence what it takes me a meandering paragraph to get to...

hope the baby is well :)  Little teeny ones are so cool!  

- Wandreycer1

January 30, 2008 at 4:28pm

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Does Jong really believe this piffle?  It reads like the kind of parody a mildy witty right-winger would use to make fun of "feme-nazis", and then him and his buddies would chortle and call Jonah Goldberg to tell him what they said.

- boneill

January 30, 2008 at 4:32pm

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Just to step into the "Obama has only advanced because he's black" argument...

In a sense, it's true - but only because if he wasn't black, he wouldn't have written that terrific book, and if he wasn't half-black, he probably wouldn't have that lyrical speaking style that combines the best of black preachers with a level of approachbility and modernity that even conservative whitie can appreciate.

- virginiacentrist

January 30, 2008 at 4:55pm

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Seriously, though. Why don't we just find the woman who has been the most victimized by sexism and make her president?

My wife isn't old enough yet, but in her place, I'd like to nominate Doris Glassburg of Raleigh, North Carolina.

- miceelf

January 30, 2008 at 4:55pm

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"Does Jong really believe this piffle?  It reads like the kind of parody a mildy witty right-winger would use to make fun of "feme-nazis", "

Head over to TaylorMarsh.com. She provides me with much entertainment on a daily basis. she is the official "Anti-Obama Crank" of the internet.

- virginiacentrist

January 30, 2008 at 5:00pm

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if she had a penis, I am sure Bill would have cared.

- blackton

January 30, 2008 at 5:17pm

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HRC has "tenacity," "grit," "courage"? You mean, as opposed to, say, John McCain? (See Hilton, Hanoi)

- williamyard

January 30, 2008 at 7:15pm

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Does this mean I have to get rid of my bumper sticker, IF YOU HAVEN'T GOT A PENIS, YOU AIN'T SQUAT.  ?

- ChanRobt

January 30, 2008 at 8:18pm

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By the way, it is passing strange that the majority of people who post here write better, and apparently think better, than professional writer, Erica Jong.

- ChanRobt

January 30, 2008 at 8:19pm

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Don't you mean professional VICTIM Erica Jong?

- dsimpson

January 30, 2008 at 8:56pm

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If she had a penis, then Erica Jong would have held the war vote against her. Erica Jong is the anti-feminist.

- psantillana

January 30, 2008 at 9:32pm

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hhahha. jolly good all around.

- virginiacentrist

January 30, 2008 at 9:41pm

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Paraphrasing from Fear of Flying's paraphrase of Byron: "Open my ---- / and you shall see / engraved upon it / Hillary"

- teplukhin2you

January 31, 2008 at 1:22am

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I said before when they posted this among a slew of endorsements that Jong's statement, "maybe she was *trying* to be a politician," is incredibly belittling to Hillary, given that the woman not only happens to *be* a politician, she's one of the *top* politicians.

It was a bad call. Imagine a heart surgeon botching an operation and killing a patient. If the surgeon were female, I wonder if Jong would rationalize it by saying, "well, maybe she was trying to be a doctor." Please. Love Hillary, hate her, vote for her, vote against her, feel free to agree or disagree, but for crying out loud, don't patronize her.

- guyminuslife

February 1, 2008 at 2:52am

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