Referring to Bill Clinton’s wife and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton as “Mrs. Clinton” is sexist and should never be done, according to the online publication run by College Democrats at Georgetown University.
The Progressive recently published a piece by Editor-in-Chief Julie Antonellis titled, “Please Don’t Call Her ‘Mrs. Clinton,'” which argued that referring to Hillary in this fashion “diminishes her accomplishments by specifically attaching her to Bill and subtly diverting attention to her famous husband and his administration.”
Using the “Mrs.” prefix when talking about Hillary Clinton is “one of the rhetorical strategies her opponents employ” to undermine the former senator and secretary of state, Antonellis wrote. “It erases and conceals her individual identity.”
The piece concedes that Hillary’s case is unique, because her husband’s prominence can make it confusing to refer to her simply by her last name. Yet, we are told, without much (if any) evidence, that “Mrs.” is used to describe Hillary Clinton far more often than “Mr.” is used to describe other male politicians, and that the people who use “Mrs. Clinton” are often speaking negatively about her.
There’s nothing insulting about “being labeled a wife,” the article suggests, while insisting that “Hillary receives unequal treatment and many fewer acknowledgements of her accomplishments,” again without much evidence.
“Some may claim that it’s too persnickety to worry about the best name to call her,” Antonellis wrote.
You don’t say.
TAKE THE POLL
