I consider myself a feminist. I have written extensively about my journey to accepting feminism as an influence in my life and in my journey to accepting that I inhabit a female body. We actually come from extremely similar backgrounds—in fact, I currently attend Smith College, which is Ms. Steinem’s alma matter. But I’m writing to you because I am a supporter of Bernie Sanders and I’m going to remain a supporter of Bernie Sanders.
Your comments were harmful. I find myself falling into Clinton vs. Sanders debates on a daily basis. The struggle of choosing one over the other is troubling the minds of dozens of women—and I am only talking about the amazing female-identified and gender-minority identified people in my personal community. You are trying to fight back against the fact that young women from the ages of 18-35 prefer Sanders to Clinton. But by “scolding” us, you are not helping anyone. You are just making the generation gap among feminists even wider.
Gloria, you said, “When you’re young, you’re thinking, ‘Where are the boys?’ The boys are with Bernie.” I am not voting for Bernie Sanders to be with the Boys. Nothing in my life is done to be around the Boys. I go to Smith, an institution where you once attended and an institution that you support and visit frequently. Here, I am taught to think for myself and think about the social change I want to see in the world, and honestly, Hillary Clinton doesn’t meet my standards.
I support Sanders because he does. I don’t study politics but there are certain things that mean a lot to me as a person and as a voter. I care a lot about the personal rights of oppressed people. To look at one example—the LGBTQ community, for example—Clinton doesn’t have the best track record. She only started supporting gay marriage in 2011. But I don’t care about gay marriage, because I think there are a lot more issues going on in the queer community. For me, I care about the acts of violence being committed against the trans community, I care about the suicide rate among LGBTQ identified teenagers, and I care about the AIDS virus. And Clinton is only just now getting on board with supporting the queer community. Sanders has been an ally all along. Sanders has been an ally all along on many civil rights issues.
Madeline, when you tell me that “there’s a special place in Hell” for me, don’t you see you’re being a little hypocritical? You’re telling me that by not supporting a woman, I’m a bad feminist—a bad person. If I vote for Clinton, I’m just voting for the symbol of having a woman in the office. Honestly, what good is that going to do if I don’t like or agree with her policies? What if I think her foreign policy is too aggressive? What if I think her stance on social rights is archaic and problematic?
As sisters who came before me, I look up to you two women as figures and role models. Gloria, I’ve seen you talk a couple times now, and every time I leave feeling refreshed and excited to be carrying on your work. Madeline, you paved the way for women in the political sphere of the United States. But your scolding hasn’t changed my vote. We are part of two different generations and movements of feminism. Why will you support Hillary but not me and 80 percent of voting women from the ages of 18-35? Why is Hillary different? Why does she get to be The Woman and the rest of us a bunch of silly girls you need to straighten out?
