The Best Candidate for Women

[Content Note: Misogyny.]

One thing you will never hear me say about Hillary Clinton is that she is the best candidate for women.

That is a thing some people accuse me of saying, when I argue that a female president would be a challenge to the male supremacy of the establishment, or when I argue that uninterrogated misogyny underwrites a lot of reflexive opposition to Clinton's candidacy.

There are people, both women and men, who say that. Who say that Hillary Clinton is the best candidate for women.

But I am not one of them.

This is partly because I don't believe any president of a capitalist, colonialist state who has at zir command a military capable of displacing, injuring, and killing legions of people can be universally good for women. (Or any marginalized population.) That assessment is certainly not limited to Clinton.

And it's partly because Clinton has supported and/or currently supports some policies that aren't universally good for women. That have harmed women. That is also a statement which can be made about any person who has ever run for president.

But it's mostly because I don't view women as a monolith. In addition to there being some women with privileges that other women don't have, women don't have a universal set of interests.

And I don't have any inclination to tell other women what their interests should be, or how they should assess who best represents them.

There is no single candidate who is "the best candidate for women."

There is only the best candidate for any individual woman. And that is the candidate she chooses.