False Choices

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False Choices

Title:

False Choices

The Faux Feminism of Hillary Rodham Clinton

Author:

Featherstone, Liza

Subject:

Nonfiction

Politics

Women's Studies

Description:

Hillary Rodham Clinton is one of the most powerful women in world politics, and the irrational right-wing hatred of Clinton has fed her progressive appeal, helping turn her into a feminist icon. To get a woman in the White House, it’s thought, would be an achievement for all women everywhere, a kind of trickle-down feminism. In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, the mantle of feminist elect has descended on Hillary Clinton, as a thousand viral memes applaud her, and most mainstream feminist leaders, thinkers, and organizations endorse her. In this atmosphere, dissent seems tantamount to political betrayal. In False Choices, an all-star lineup of feminists contests this simplistic reading of the candidate. A detailed look at Hillary Clinton’s track record on welfare, Wall Street, criminal justice, education, and war reveals that she has advanced laws and policies that have done real harm to the lives of women and children across the country and the globe. This well-researched collection of essays restores to feminism its revolutionary meaning, and outlines how it could transform the United States and its relation to the world. Includes essays from prominent feminist writers Liza Featherstone, Laura Flanders, Moe Tkacik, Medea Benjamin, Frances Fox Piven and Fred Block, Donna Murch, Kathleen Geier, Yasmin Nair, Megan Erickson, Tressie McMillan Cottom, Catherine Liu, Amber A’Lee Frost, Margaret Corvid, Belén Fernández, Zillah Eisenstein, and others.

Publisher:

Verso

Verso Books

Date:

2016/05/17

Digital Format:

Open in browser

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Kindle

Language:

English

Summary

Hillary Rodham Clinton is one of the most powerful women in world politics, and the irrational right-wing hatred of Clinton has fed her progressive appeal, helping turn her into a feminist icon. To get a woman in the White House, it's thought, would be an achievement for all women everywhere, a kind of trickle-down feminism.

In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, the mantle of feminist elect has descended on Hillary Clinton, as a thousand viral memes applaud her, and most mainstream feminist leaders, thinkers, and organizations endorse her. In this atmosphere, dissent seems tantamount to political betrayal.

In False Choices , an all-star lineup of feminists contests this simplistic reading of the candidate. A detailed look at Hillary Clinton's track record on welfare, Wall Street, criminal justice, education, and war reveals that she has advanced laws and policies that have done real harm to the lives of women and children across the country and the globe. This well-researched collection of essays restores to feminism its revolutionary meaning, and outlines how it could transform the United States and its relation to the world.

Includes essays from prominent feminist writers Liza Featherstone, Laura Flanders, Moe Tkacik, Medea Benjamin, Frances Fox Piven and Fred Block, Donna Murch, Kathleen Geier, Yasmin Nair, Megan Erickson, Tressie McMillan Cottom, Catherine Liu, Amber A'Lee Frost, Margaret Corvid, Belén Fernández, Zillah Eisenstein , and others.

Author Notes

Liza Featherstone writes often about feminism and economic justice. She is a contributing writer to the Nation and the magazine's first-ever advice columnist. Also a columnist for amNY , Featherstone has published in many national publications including the New York Times , the Washington Post , Ms. , Glamour , Teen Vogue , and the Women's Review of Books . She is the author of Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers' Rights at Wal-Mart and is finishing a history of the focus group. She teaches journalism at both New York University and Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

This essay collection edited by Featherstone (Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers' Rights at Wal-Mart) will be intensely engrossing for Hillary Clinton's left-wing opponents -and for left-leaning readers still on the fence. The contributors, including Frances Fox Piven, Catherine Liu, and Medea Benjamin, track Clinton's political career from her high school support for the conservative Barry Goldwater to her recent presidential campaign positioning herself as a feminist. The powerfully critical essays reject the "ruling class feminism" of Clinton in favor of a "left feminism rooted in an understanding of women's material conditions." They examine the neoliberal policies she's supported, including Bill Clinton's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families act, which put a cap on welfare; the North American Free Trade Agreement; and the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act. Based on this track record, Kathleen Geier argues that Clinton practices "business-oriented diplomacy." Other contributors cite Clinton's approaches to welfare, immigration, criminal justice, and education, while Medea Benjamin points out her aggressive posture as secretary of state, seen in Afghanistan and Libya. Each selection here is cogently argued, adding up to a damning portrait of both Clinton and American politics. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

A collection of essays from radical activists and academics eviscerating Hillary Clinton's brand of feminism.In "The Great Ambivalence," professor Tressie McMillan Cottom confesses, "I want to trust Hillary Clinton more than I do," which is a far more positive perspective on Clinton than the other essays display. As editor Featherstone (Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers Rights at Wal-Mart, 2004, etc.) and contributor Amber A'Lee Frost argue in the introduction, "feminism is not an anatomical Super Bowl in which all adherents root for Team Vagina. Instead, feminism is a set of political ideas, or several sets of political ideas that are often wildly at odds. This book itself advances a vociferous disagreement with the type of feminism that has produced and sustained Hillary Rodham Clinton." The charges against her range from her board membership with the anti-union Wal-Mart to her hawkishness as "the administration's most vociferous advocate for military action" to her and her husband's pivotal roles with the Democratic Leadership Council, which positioned the party away from liberal verities and toward a more conservative centrism. None of the charges are particularly revelatory, but the framing of them as a feminist critique of a feminist candidate can be devastating. Clinton's support of so-called "welfare reform" and the war on drugs has been brutal toward minority women, though Clinton herself seems to separate gender issues from ones concerning race. In the concluding "Beyond Hillary," feminist theorist Zillah Eisenstein writes, "Hillary Clinton's brand of feminismpower feminism, imperial feminism, white ruling-class feminismare [sic] not the answer to this moment of crisis. And the answer must be about so much more than gender." Lest she emerge from these pages as the Lady Macbeth of presidential politics, the essays have plenty of ammunition reserved for her husband and take some shots at the current president. One doesn't have to be as far left as most of these essayists to see the contradictions in the subject's credentials as a progressive feminist. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

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