As a young-ish feminist, I really want to agree with Linda Hirschman, but on this issue, she is completely wrong. She is obviously very frustrated about the blatant sexism towards Senator Clinton on this campaign, and I think her outrage over things like the Hilary nutcracker is well founded. That said, she is making a classic mistake--that is to read a few articles and announce she has found an overarching trend. We've seen this dozens of times in everything from how articles on highly educated women are dropping out of the workforce to the assertion that the movie Juno has led to an increase in teenage pregnancy. Neither of these so-called trends are supported by any evidence. Likewise, there is no reason to think that women, beyond the two examples she named, aren't voting for Senator Clinton because she reminds us of our mothers.

More troubling than Hirschman's noting a fake trend, is that that the 60s feminist icons seem unwilling to actually understand why young women would not support a woman candidate. They have not addressed some serious concerns many of us have about Senator Clinton, President Clinton and the DNC establishment of which they are a crucial part. They haven't addressed how Senator Clinton botched healthcare reform in 1993, how she supported the Iraq war or how her husband's administration implemented the failed "don't ask, don't tell" policy. They also have not considered that many of us want to see a new generation move into leadership. While they shout about sexism, they ignore the undercurrent of racism evident in both Senator Cinton's and Senator McCain's campaigns.

By the way, Ms. Hirschman, like Abigail Pogrebin, I was also raised by a strong feminist mother. I was taught that women had an unalienable right to birth control and abortion before I even knew what sex was. I was sent to kindergarden with an "ERA YES!" button on my jacket. My mother would be appalled if I didn't return to work after giving birth and she always told me that changing her name when she got married was one of the biggest mistakes of her life.

My mom lives in Pennsylvania and on Tuesday, she'll be pulling the lever for Obama.

Maybe if more feminists really thought for themselves, then they would not be feminists. Indeed, I submit that like myself, they would not be voting at all, because they'd recognize a failed system when they saw it and would refuse to participate in it. The problem goes much deeper than the current issues you address here, real as they are.

I have a profound distrust of any merely human "-ism", because such things arise when someone takes one good idea and makes it a panacea. Feminism is one of those things, and as such creates problems where none existed and misdefines what problems there are. But why stop there? Pick anything that ends with "-ism", including republicanism (what our nation's government is founded upon), and you'll find the same fault. It's part of the human condition.

In that light, I feel sorry for your mother's attitude about changing one's name in marriage, for the record. It manifests a profound misunderstanding of what the name change is meant to signify, a misunderstanding I've encountered before. (It's a classic case of the "straw man" fallacy.) As long as we're talking about thinking for oneself, ask yourself why something that has been anything but a mistake for countless millions of women before your mother and you has suddenly become one. I submit that the problem is not with the custom, but with those who object to it on the grounds of misuse of the custom. (That fallacy would be called "throwing the baby out with the bathwater".)

wr ()()

"Maybe if more feminists really thought for themselves, then they would not be feminists. Indeed, I submit that like myself, they would not be voting at all, because they'd recognize a failed system when they saw it and would refuse to participate in it. The problem goes much deeper than the current issues you address here, real as they are."

Mmm-hmm. What's your proposal for an alternative system, then? As I said to another poster who expressed similar sentiments--were you proposing a violent revolution, or did you plan to just sit home and whine?

Modern democracy is indeed a wretched form of government. And I'll happily support a better system just as soon as somebody invents one. Until then, I'm going to go right on voting, because wretched as it is, democracy is better than any of the other systems of government I've seen.