I like the pantsuit.
I’m not going to lie. I like the pantsuit. I like Hillary Clinton’s iconic outfit.
What is it about the pantsuit? What is it about the outfit that so defines Hillary and so enrages her (mostly male, funnily enough) critics?
I’ll tell you.
The pantsuit represents female leadership.
Female leadership is not some pale imitation of male leadership. That’s a common misconception about feminism. “They’re trying to be like men!” And why elect a woman trying to be a man when you can just elect a man, the real thing! No, the pantsuit is not a male outfit. Hillary is not walking out to accept her party’s nomination in a suit and tie. She’s not trying to be a man. There’s is nothing even remotely masculine about the pantsuit.
Conversely there is nothing about the pantsuit that is trying to sexualize women. Let’s be frank. The “stylish,” hip-hugging pencil skirts of Sarah Palin or Megyn Kelly are merely professional in name only. They are an underhanded way of sexualizing “strong” women by attempting to draw the male gaze. Those figure-hugging jackets and tight skirts over hose and high heels make a mockery of female professionalism in many ways while pretending to uphold it.
Don’t get me wrong. Many strong women have worn skirts while wielding power. Margaret Thatcher wore a skirt. Theresa May wears a skirt. Angela Merkel wears a skirt. But Hillary takes it further. Ironically a symbol of the status quo, Hillary Clinton is also upsetting the culture in a truly new way. Don the Con is seen as a person upsetting the system (which he is)…. but Don the Con is doing it in a very conventional way. There is no more conventional nor older system of governance than authoritarianism. Ever since the first chimpanzee hit his male rival on the head and declared himself a ruler, authoritarianism has been the default system of government for us primates. Women declaring themselves leaders by a) neither imitating men or b) sexualizing themselves to gain male cooperation is truly revolutionary.
Forget Bernie Sanders. Forget Don the Con. When Hillary Clinton stepped out in her blazing white pantsuit to accept her party’s nomination…. that was the revolution. That is the revolution.