Clinton Reinforcing Sterotypes of Women, Says Paglia

Writing in the Telegraph (UK) media scholar Camille Paglia calls Hillary's posture as a victim of sexism a "saccharine melodrama" that undermines "the central goals of feminism."

As her presidential hopes have begun to evaporate, Hillary has upped the ante in the crusading feminist department. Her surrogates are beating the grievance drums, trying to scare every angry female out of the bush....

For all her claims of media bias and ill treatment by her male fellow candidates, Hillary has got off absurdly softly in this campaign. No one — neither her rivals nor mainstream journalists — has had the guts to explore or even list the bursting catalogue of past Clinton scandals, in which Hillary was nearly always hip deep.

Charges of sexism have become Hillary's rote strategy for evading scrutiny. But by entangling the noble movement of modern feminism with her own knotty psychodrama, Hillary is reinforcing hoary stereotypes about women. Will every losing woman candidate now turn on the waterworks and claim to be maimed by male pride and prejudice?

For every new state or region, she trots out a new tone or accent, from the crisp to the cornpone. It's crude and patronizing —which is partly why she has surprisingly lost support among her peers, educated upper-middle-class women.