middle cyclones and other references

Bachmann is the first 2012 GOP presidential candidate to be on Fallon, although she’s certainly not the only one who’s been caught in her own deceptions. She’s also the lone woman remaining in the field, which makes me wonder if Rick Perry or Rick Santorum would have been greeted by this particular Fishbone track had they been first to Fallon’s couch. The answer, sadly, is “probably not.” Casual sexism in politics and entertainment and, you know, the rest of the world is of course nothing new, and it’s something that as a consumer of the Internet crushes me on a near-hourly basis—even though I’ve aesthetically internalized it enough to enjoy songs like, say, “Lyin’-Ass Bitch.” But it kills me when it’s used by smart people who I respect against someone like Bachmann, who has no shortage of completely legitimate reasons to inspire ire. Calling her a bitch is too easy—it glosses over the actual concrete problems with her as a candidate—and more importantly, the woman-specific use of “bitch” toward people who allegedly “deserve” it only serves to further crack open the door to it being used against any woman who’s trying to make her way in a male-dominated field.