In the days following this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where comedian Michelle Wolf got on stage and showered the audience with searing jokes aimed at Republicans and Democrats alike, an online debate unfolded.
Moral crusaders rushed to the defense of White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, whose customary smoky eye makeup was among the comedy casualties. Wolf suggested the look was made from the ashes of Sanders’ copious professional lies. The defenders cried foul in the name of feminism, which generally frowns upon insulting women’s appearances.
Of course, “perfect smoky eye” is hardly an insult, as anyone who has attempted the look can attest. The problem here isn’t that a White House official was targeted in the classic Correspondents’ Dinner roast targeting political figures; it’s that this one joke raised such an internet maelstrom.
Because Wolf wasn’t really critiquing Sanders’ appearance. She was critiquing Sanders’ work—specifically, Sanders’ perceived reliance on lies as Press Secretary. And the work of women does not get a special forcefield protecting it from criticism.
To imply that such a shield is necessary is sexism. Women are plenty competent enough to be held responsible for our own mistakes and moral failings, thank you.
Or perhaps it’s something far more insidious than plain sexism: warped feminism. Is this the natural overextension of feminism’s chief ideal, that women should have the right to do what they want, without the interference of patriarchal standards?
Because women should have the right to make their own choices—but only as long as those choices don’t hurt others. It’s the same rule that, theoretically, applies to all human beings. Lying in an official capacity to cover the tracks of a baby tyrant is not a victimless career path. Thus, Sanders’ professional choices are fair game for feminist scorn.
But maybe the squawking about Wolf’s routine is a bastardization of another feminist pillar altogether.
We have to support other women, don’t we?
But let’s not twist that one around until it’s unrecognizable. Here’s a quick primer: We support other women when they laugh in the patriarchy’s face. We do not support other women when they laugh in the faces of the oppressed.
We support women’s human rights. We do not support women’s malicious choices.
Uplifting women is really more of a general rule, meant to help us all survive a world designed to crush us. It’s not a get-out-of-discourse-free card. It’s not an exemption from checking our privilege. It’s not unconditional.
Supporting women does not mean supporting all women at all times, because branding women infallible and giving them pedestals instead of podiums is just sexism with a friendly face.
As feminists, we recognize that women can make mistakes, and we feel free to call them out when they do. And we also know that women can do bad things, and when that happens, we unleash the criticism.
Calling a female politician ugly is a gendered insult. But calling her a liar is a democratic responsibility.