(C) Tennessee Lookout
This story was originally published by Tennessee Lookout and is unaltered.
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Dancing backwards in high heels – Tennessee Lookout [1]
['More From Author', 'July', 'Holly Mccall']
Date: 2023-07-21
In his 1978 book “The World According to Garp,” John Irving wrote, “In this dirty-minded world you are either somebody’s wife or somebody’s whore, or fast on your way to becoming one or the other.”
While I don’t agree with Irving, there’s some applicability in how politics treats women who run for office or serve as elected officials.
For instance, Betty Chiles Nixon, who was elected to Metro Nashville Council in 1979 and served as the first woman to chair the Budget Committee, ran for Nashville Mayor in 1991.
Betty had a razor keen intellect and could wrangle numbers as well as debate political issues. She had a master’s degree in business administration from Vanderbilt University’s prestigious Owen School of Management and talked about the period of her life in which she kept a handgun by her side due to threats stemming from her then-husband’s career in the U.S. Justice Department.
But when she ran for mayor, the underground rumor mill centered on one question: Was she a lesbian? Betty took no issue with being labeled a member of the LGBTQ+ community (she wasn’t,) but it’s irksome at best that the only thing her detractors could find to gossip about was her sexuality.
When she discussed issues similar to those raised by her opponent, businessman Phil Bredesen, she was called “shrill.” He was called thoughtful and businesslike.
Too pretty, too ugly; too smart, too dumb: Women who run for office are measured by a different standard than male candidates, and nowhere has that been more evident than the Nashville mayor’s race.
You’d hope that in the 32 years that have passed since then, society would have progressed far enough that the women running for office wouldn’t be marked by sexist tropes of the past, and yet, they are.
There are 11 candidates running for mayor of Nashville and seven of them are women, which is a measure of growth from the days when “lady candidates” were a novelty. They include a state senator, a former school board member, a two-term metro councilmember at-large, a former council member who serves in a countywide elected position and a Stanford University graduate with an MBA who worked for the state of Tennessee in several capacities. It’s an accomplished group.
But boy, wait till you hear what those women have put up with.
One told me that in an endorsement hearing, a member of the all-male panel interviewing her said, crudely referencing a scandal in former Mayor Megan Barry’s administration:: “Our last lady mayor f- – – – – d her bodyguard. How do we know you won’t do that?”
The candidate in question gave an answer much more polished than mine would have been in that circumstance. I would have pointed out that former Mayor Bill Boner had an affair with a female police officer serving on his security detail: did the endorsement panel ask the same question of male candidates they asked of the women?
I’m going to bet not.
Marjorie Pomeroy-Wallace, campaign manager for Freddie O’Connell, told me she has asked forum organizers to ensure they make appropriate accommodations for the women, only to receive several responses of “why?”
She’s asked forum organizers to refrain from asking women candidates to “dress appropriately,” a request not made of male candidates. She asked for chairs instead of high stools or bar-height chairs, presenting a more modest option for the candidates who wear skirts or dresses to forums.
An email that went out to an all-women’s political group, from women, included an endorsement for one of the men in the mayoral race because “he looks the part” and I wonder if the implication is that not one of the competent women in the field “looks the part?”
And that’s just this race. Former Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer, who is Black, was habitually mocked during her term in office — even sometimes by media outlets — in caricatures that exaggerated her physical features.
I’m no fan of U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, and she offers plenty of policy positions worthy of criticism, but too often women as well as men choose to call her “stupid” (she’s not), make fun of her home economics degree or pillory her hair style.
Friends, that ain’t it.
Sexist criticisms and behavior can’t be pinned on one gender or party affiliation. Too often, I hear some of my own women friends raking female candidates over the coals for their choice of shoes or timbre of their voice. While I’ll happily argue the Republican Party pushes policies less friendly to women, far too many so-called progressives have indulged in recent local criticism.
I’ve had it.
Where is the empathy or respect for candidates who have the guts to offer themselves in the public arena, some of whom know what they will be up against and still choose to run? As has been written of Fred Astaire: sure he was great, but don’t forget Ginger Rogers did everything he did backwards and in high heels.
I’ve witnessed incredibly qualified women remove themselves from consideration from office because they had nine out of 10 qualities for the job while plenty of men with one out of 10 qualities waltz right in.
Yes, we’ve come a long way, baby, since 1991, but not so far as to not be objectified. I have no idea who the next Nashville mayor will be or if any of the women make the top two to enter a runoff, but nonetheless, here’s to you, ladies. Thank you for being the woman in the arena and for dancing backwards, in high heels.
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