The grope

I am still waiting for President-elect Barack Obama to indicate that he comprehends the misogny manifested by his speech-write John Favreau when he acted out a grope of Secretary-of-State-designate Clinton.

(Yes, I realize this may be like waiting for Godot. But I'm waiting, because I refuse to lower my normative expectations of the President-elect. Just like I continue to wait for Speaker Pelosi to claim she made a mistake in taking impeachment of George W. Bush off the table the moment she assumed the speakership; just like I'm waiting for President-elect Obama to polish off the DNC's debt; just like I wait for the Obama administration to shut down the interrogation camp at Guantanomo. If we citizens do not set expectations for our leaders, we cannot blame them when they fail to act as we call upon them to do.)

Favreau's grope has mobilized men and women who understand misogyny and the President-elect's failure to acknowledge it let alone do anything, no matter how minimal, about it. Heck, I am still waiting for one of the much-ballyhooed Obama speeches on the issue. Oh. Wail Maybe we never got a speech on the topic because the Obama campaign's chief speech writer was...John Favreau.

I believe Favreau's group galvanizes those who understand the pervasiveness, badness, and wrongness of misogny because the grope is to women what segregation was black people in racially segregated environments. Just as institutionalized racial segregation affected and degraged almost all blacks, groping has been experienced by most women, and comparatively few men. The fact that a supposedly progressive young man thought it humorous to grope a powerful woman indicates his need to subordinate and degrade her, to reduce her to an object to be handled rather than a person to be respected.

And, no, this is not really about Senator Clinton. Two allies demonstrated this with powerful imagery recently (look here and here). The figure Favreau groped is as much every-woman as it is one particular woman.

Groping is ubiquitous. But it rarely happens in a form so highly visible as the photograph that Favreau originally had on his Facebook page. This is part of why it is hard both to fight the groping and the systemic degradation and perpetuation of degradation it both represents and causes. You cannot hold a sit in at a lunch counter to show the evil in groping. You cannot march to an ocean and make salt to show the absurdity of economically oppressing the majority of a population.

But you can demand that the President-elect show solidarity with all those who dream of a time when women will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the by the make up of their genitals but by the content of their character, the quality of their intent, and the soundness of their ideas. We can expect and wait for our President-elect to join us in that dream, even if we must wait for a long time time and wait with little hope. But the waiting and the expecting is the demanding.

Mr. Obama, let us know that you appreciate the wrong of groping. Let us know that you care how of often it happens. Let us know that you stand against it and all it represents. We do not want your coffee mugs or your other commemorative items: we want your camaraderie in the fight against misogyny.

Comments

[DYB]

There are a few things about the grope, the photo, and the fallout (or lack of fallout.)

My understanding is that the other 3 people visible in the photograph (one of whom is also groping Clinton's cutout) are all Obama speech writers. (The woman is supposed to have been Hillary's chief writer until Hillary dropped out of the race last summer.) If it's true that everyone in that photo is an Obama speech-writer: why is there a cardboard cutout of Hillary Clinton there? I doubt these young men have it there to pay their respects to Clinton on a daily basis.

Even if they are all drunk in that photo - Favreau was not drunk when he decided the photo was so hilarious that he just had to share it with his friends on Facebook. No doubt it's one of those friends who advised him to remove the picture considering what Favreau's job is.

My initial response to the statement from Clinton's senior advisor was puzzlement. I dare say for a moment I probably thought the same thing about it that Campbell Brown did. But the more I thought about it the more the statement comes across not as "ha ha, isn't that funny," but as very snide and sarcastic. I recognized the condemnation only after a short while (Campbell Brown still hasn't figured it out.)

It is telling that so far there has been no response from Obama and his camp. I have also not seen any major politicians come out condemning Favreau and friends' antics. Is that because it's the weekend? Perhaps... We'll see what Monday brings.

Also, Obama appeared on "Meet the Press" today. I did not see the program, but it doesn't sound like he was asked to comment and he did not offer a statement.

[lililam]

Heidi, I think the only alternative would be to fire Favreau immediately. If not, I would be all for some kind of uprising. So, it is official, the country has been duped by a bunch of adolescents. I think many of us already knew that, but it is unconscionable to see it in bold color. I have a 27 y.o. son who would never consider such an action or goad his peers into such trash. I just cringe when looking at this photo and all of its manifestations. As women, it all comes back to us. This needs to be widely distributed, so all of the decent citizens of our country can see what is behind the "president-select".

[cats]

The Favreau photo was clearly meant as an insult to Clinton. Hadn't Favreau been writing nasty stuff about Hillary Clinton throughout the long campaign. Nothing new there, but it does provide a moment to remember and re-energize us to the problem, which is why it caught so much attention.

I thought I might see how it looked with Obama in the photo, so I spent a short time last time "shopping" him into the photo. It still looks disrespectful, but it has a different feeling to it because it is disrespect for the president-elect and not a sexual thing. I guess I should have tried to move Favreau's hand down, but it wasn't worth the effort to me at the time.

Take a look and let me know what you think.

catsden.wordpress.com

[maria]

I only saw the report on this and the photo this morning. I believe that Mr. Favreau ought to be fired and that Pres. Elect Obama needs to say exactly why he is being fired -- that he will not tolerate adolescent male behavior, misogyny, and sexual harrassment on the part of his staff toward anyone but certainly not toward Senator Clinton or any other woman on his staff. Not only is Mr. Favreau's behavior objectionable in se, I think that if he posted this photo (and others?) on his Facebook page, he obviously does not realize how inappropriate the behavior is. And it is because he made this photo and his behavior public that he must be fired rather than merely chastised.