Arnold Schwarzenegger, at his speech of support for George Bush at the RNC last night, said to anyone complaining about the Economy, he would say "Don't be a bunch of girlie-men". By this, Schwarzenegger means that they are being weak and stupid. CSPAN showed the entire RNC auditorium leaping out of their seats to applaud him.
Aside from the fact that the script is old; that in public politics, it's not polite to use name-calling; and finally that many serious economists are women themselves, we have now the Governor of California -- long known for his debasing and humliating treatment of women -- using being a woman as an epithet from the podium of the Republican National Convention, saying that thinking like women means thinking like you're weak and stupid. And being applauded by the Republican Party for the aptness of the analogy.
Serious adults don't say "you throw like a girl", "you're about as strong as a woman", "you act like a woman" -- because serious adults realize that the idea of being a woman shouldn't be used as an insult. Women are not weak and stupid.
Saying men act like women, in order to imply them to be weak and stupid, is unacceptable, in the same way that it's unacceptable to say that someone is lazy like a Mexican, or steals like a black person, or is dumb and self-centered like an actor. These are harmful stereotypes -- and it is just as harmful to say that women are weak and stupid.
One can only wonder, in the middle of a cabinet session, after Condoleeza Rice presents her recommendations for national security, if Bush leans over and offers the criticism: "Shut up Condi, and stop thinking like a girl", getting a laugh from Rummy, Ashcroft, and all the other boys around the table.
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