[Part One here. I have the dreadful sinking feeling that this may be a series…]
Actual headline in the New York Times: Sotomayor's Sharp Tongue Raises Issue of Temperament.
Just for a moment, try to imagine that headline being written about a man. Flatly, it wouldn't be. "Sharp-tongued" is an adjective almost exclusively reserved for use to describe women, who have the impudence to communicate assertively or let naughty words come out of their delicate ladymouths.
(This is a subject I know a little bit about, ahem.)
"Sharp-tongued" women are also frequently referred to as "difficult," "nasty," "temperamental," "strident," and "caustic," all of which are used to describe Sotomayor in this article—along with reports that she is a "terror on the bench" who "behaves in an out-of-control manner," and, my personal favorite, that she can be "very judgmental." Shocking quality for a judge, no?
What I find most bitterly amusing about the Important Questions Being Raised regarding Sotomayor's temperament is that all it took for a big article in the Times were a few reports that she's feisty and headstrong. Meanwhile, John McCain—who was a presidential candidate, not a Supreme Court nominee—spent an entire career being a belligerent, reactionary, ill-tempered punk, and the media made only a half-hearted attempt to question if he had the temperament to run the country, and did so under casual headlines like McCain in battle to keep his cool (post with excerpt here) and Mishaps mark John McCain's record as naval aviator.
The double-standard is so blatant, I'm honestly amazed by anyone who has the brass audacity to try to deny it.
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