Radical lesbian feminists who sleep their way to the top

There are two traditional tactics used to discredit threatening female politicians: "She slept her way to the top," or "She is a lesbian." Both are about sex. Both are insulting, but for different reasons: One presumes that the woman had to "use" men to get power and that she is a "slut" (the double standard is very much alive and well); the other presumes there is something wrong with being homosexual.

Several years ago, there was a woman rising to political power in my state, and I heard both rumors about her. This was highly amusing since it implied that there were a number of very powerful lesbians in control of power in the state.

The "she slept her way to the top" argument has been used against Hillary Rodham Clinton for years, or--put another way--she was Yoko Ono'd from the get-go. The argument didn't have strong legs because she was married to the person from whom she supposedly drew power, which made the whole thing fairly wholesome, and therefore not very useful. Now, those threatened by Sen. Clinton have posited the lesbian argument, and have given it a kick by repeatedly saying "lesbian feminist." This phrase has long been used by the right wing to get across the message that: Feminists are lesbians, and are therefore even worse than they would be if they were just feminists. Equating feminism with lesbianism accomplishes two things: It labels feminists as homosexual, and--through faulty reasoning--as "man-haters."

The people who shout "lesbian!" at every powerful, somewhat liberal woman are the same people who also claim that the percentage of homosexuals in the population is much lower than those promoting the "homosexual agenda" would have us believe. Using their reasoning, the few lesbians who really do exist have a significant tendency to seek and gain political power. Obviously, they do it with mirrors.