Is it acceptable to call Hillary Clinton a "bitch?"

[geek tragedy]

There is disagreement in this forum on that question.

Maybe my preference for Senator Clinton has caused me to fall out of step with the larger community--I have an opinion on this but perhaps my opinion is a minority one with all of the new posters here.

So, what are the community standards? We should have clarity on this because there is obvious disagreement.

70 votes, 3 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	It is sexist and has no place here, ever
	59 (84%)
	Fine by me
	8 (11%)
	Depends on whether her tone was inappropriate
	3 (4%)
	3 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[DetroitSocialist83]

1. I didn't vote in the poll

Is it sexist to call a man a Dick? I feel like it's just best to avoid divisive language when debating all together.

[FreakinDJ]

7. Calling men a "Dick" is accepted here

the other will get you a hide

I don't like Hillary but even I know better then to call her that here

[snowy owl]

18. That's a double standard.

[FreakinDJ]

21. Thats how I see it

[mythology]

39. I don't agree it's a double standard

I think in our societal context, bitch is a worse word. It's a word used to demean women but also men who don't act "manly" enough. I've never heard a woman called a dick to imply she's too "manly". Yes there are other words for that, but I think it shows that dick and bitch aren't equal as slurs.

That said, I think both should terms should be out of bounds here. Be more creative in one's insults, or keep the discussion more civil, even about people you don't like.

[angstlessk]

2. Where's the one when we can call Bernie a Bastard

This is a sexist poll!

P.S. i am a Bernie supporter

[geek tragedy]

6. Apparently you are unaware of what "sexist" means

Of course you support Senator Sanders

[angstlessk]

15. I am a 60 year old woman

I know what sexist is...when I was 14, I thought my mother should have to pay less rent, cause women got less pay!!!

Never thought she should get more pay..

Visit the 60's

I prefer Bernie...he was on my side even before I had a side.

[geek tragedy]

19. This poll in no conceivable fashion is sexist.

You have no opinion on whether it's acceptable for DUers to call Hillary Clinton that word?

[sammythecat]

78. And what would be the consequences here for the wrong answer?

Are you on a little witch/warlock hunt here. Nothing better to do?

[geek tragedy]

82. the poster who called her the b-word still has their posting privileges.

juries let it go.

I am asking a question. If you are convinced of the righteousness of calling her a female dog, you should have no anger at others disagreeing with you.

[sammythecat]

88. Who's angry? I said, in post 72,

that I'm not feeling angry. Haven't been here long enough for that, and now I'm off to work. I'll no doubt get angry there before the night is over. That sucks, but I know enough to not be surprised.

[Marr]

3. Sanders supporter here and I say no. Nor is it acceptable to use

pejoratives in reference to Sanders-- a subject on which there also seems to be some 'disagreement'.

[snowy owl]

36. I don't like pejoratives on either side.

If the truth is unbecoming to a candidate, so be it. But pejoratives and ad hominems get boring, antagonistic and really, really old. And there are a lot of them on this site.

[SheenaR]

4. Didn't vote

Tend to agree with the person in post 1

I call fellow women that word frequently. Some are my friends. And I'm not sexist against myself.

Time, place, context.

[geek tragedy]

14. The context is a progressive discussion board.

Would you answer differently if that word where directed at Jane Sanders or Elizabeth Warren?

[SheenaR]

28. As an educated woman

I don't advocate serious personal attacks.

If Elizabeth Warren was being a bitch to someone and I saw footage of it, you call it what it is. We have no problem calling famous people a variety of names both men and women. Political figures are not above that. Was it sexist to call Bill Clinton and/or John Edwards pejorative terms? Context is everything.

As is with this whole campaign, it's not sexist or hate speech to call a spade a spade.

And for the record I have never called Sec Clinton that name before. I do not plan on calling her that name. I do not encourage others to call her that name.

I am speaking of the word in general.

[geek tragedy]

30. "it's not sexist or hateful to call a spade a spade"

Sounds like you're voting for option 3.

[SheenaR]

31. The only voting I'll be doing

Will be when I head to the polls

[geek tragedy]

32. You've made yourself perfectly clear.

You have no objection to people calling Hillary Clinton a "bitch" on a progressive website.


You and I have different values.

[SheenaR]

37. Never once even came close to that

Troll away. Not getting into a war of words you will continue even if you lose.

Enjoy your night sir/madam.

[geek tragedy]

38. "It's not sexist or hateful to call a spade a spade"

That was your answer to the question of whether it's acceptable to call Hillary Clinton the b-word.

Your meaning was crystal clear. You did a very good job of communicating it.

You and I just have different values.

[Karma13612]

120. Agree.

Time, place, context.

I actually don't ever use in speaking to people I know.

But I do yell at a certain Democratic candidate when they are on TV debating Bernie and she keeps interrupting him. Or I might refer to someone as that in private when I am talking with my husband.

For me, it is not sexist. It just means this person is not currently on my short list of receiving the annual Christmas card.

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

5. I think whether a word is sexist is dependent on the context of its use. nt

[Agnosticsherbet]

8. No,, not it isn't. I don't think this type of poll is acceptable, either.

[geek tragedy]

12. Why is this poll unacceptable?

People are posting about how Clinton and her supporters are making false accusations of sexism.

That word is being used to describe Secretary Clinton, with the blessing of jury members.

[Agnosticsherbet]

50. It resorts to using the same ugly word.

Just because a jury blessed it, it doesn't make it correct.

[TheDormouse]

9. It's not acceptable to call ANYONE a bitch nt

[morningfog]

10. No it is not. It is not acceptable to call any woman that.

[geek tragedy]

24. Thank you. I agree. nt

[frylock]

11. I prefer the gender neutral term of 'asshole'

[Sheepshank]

100. "Bernie is an asshole"

...I'd get a hide for saying stuff like that, sexist or not. You may not get a hide saying the same thing about Clinton, the juries tend to be 6:1 Bernie supporters.

[frylock]

103. Bernie was called a motherfucker. That post was left to stand.

I had a post hidden for calling Bill Clinton a dick. There's only one group that has plotted to alert swarm people here in hopes of getting them put in the penalty box, and it wasn't Bernie's supporters.

[Sheepshank]

104. I had post hidden for stating that Bernie never held down a regular job...

...until he was 40 and ran for public office. I didn't even get the liberty of calling him any names lol. Seems like the alert stalking happens.

You did of course read the other post that was left on HRC group by a Sanders Supporter and was left to stand?

On second thought I take that big FUCK YOU back. I wouldn't fuck you even with someone else's dog's cock. You have proven yourself to be utterly and irretrievably morally repugnant. You have stooped to depths that are lower than whale shit in the fucking Marianas trench. There's a lot of pressure down there for anyone with a shred of fucking decency but once your balls are shriveled to the obvious pinhead size it affects the brain and there's little left than to attempt to smear the shit on the walls when it didn't stick whilst you were flinging it.

[Dem2]

13. In the context of a political forum where people are often on edge

Calling one of the candidates who happens to be woman a "bitch" is never acceptable.

[geek tragedy]

35. Yes. nt

[KingFlorez]

16. No

But considering that she has the delegate lead and the popular vote lead, that automatically means it's okay to call her disrespectful names.

[libdem4life]

52. This is a poll, not a declaration and encouraging people to call names.

I think you missed the point...had nothing to do with delegates or votes, IMO. And the victim/anti-victim insinuations get really, really old.

[Luminous Animal]

17. Ask MaDem.

[BainsBane]

20. Calling out misogyny hurts women

Our lot in life is to keep silent in the face of abuse. I know because I read it on DU.

[rjsquirrel]

22. Absolutely not

Anyone who does that is no progressive.

[geek tragedy]

25. I agree. nt

[one_voice]

23. No.

but for the record I call inanimate objects the 'b' word all the time.

I use the 'b' word in real life but I don't use it here because I respect the community standards & other people's feelings. It's just not something I would do.

If I wanted to see Hillary called that I'd jump on over to freepervill or the cave. I would hope that we didn't do that here.

[geek tragedy]

26. that makes sense to me nt

[cosmicone]

27. Another good poll to get a list of people who should be PPRed by admins n/t

[Capt. Obvious]

128. Large transparency pages make a great list as well

[cosmicone]

129. Naw ... once Hillary clinches

all transparency pages will probably be wiped clean.

[artislife]

29. Is it still acceptable to call out flame bait?

Because this one is set to blaze.

[opiate69]

49. No shit.

[Warren DeMontague]

119. Christmas must have come early for the Hillary group.

"finally, we can talk about the IMPORTANT ISSUES!"

[Autumn]

33. I don't like it but one poster can call a man a "prick" and that seems to be very acceptable.

So if the standards here are that low then calling a politician a bitch is just about par for the course and would seem to be acceptable. There really are no community standards, they are no longer enforced.

[Punkingal]

34. Not at all acceptable.

There is a lot of disagreeable stuff on this board now. I remember seeing a post where Bernie was called an asshole and it was allowed to stand. That doesn't mean it's okay to call Hillary a bitch. Being a woman, though, it is a word I use about other women.

[Kalidurga]

40. It depends on your audience I think.

And context matters. I get to say bad words about people who do bad stuff like bomb countries for business opportunities. I don't do that on message boards though cuz words online are forever. Plus no one really cares how horrible an act is only the identity of the person who did it.

[Impedimentus]

41. No, never. Not even if her chauffeured limo ...

cuts you off in traffic. No excuse for such foul language (it's OK, however, to give the chauffeur the finger). Emily Post, bless her warm soul, wrote several books concerning these matters.

FEEL THE BERN - 2016

[SheilaT]

42. Absolutely not.

Never.

I am a strong Bernie supporter, I personally think Hillary as President would be terrible, but she NEVER deserves to be called anything like that.

If you don't like something she says or does, name calling accomplishes nothing. State what you don't like and why, and leave it there.

[geek tragedy]

43. Thank you. That is how I feel, except for the fact I'm voting for her.

Sarah Palin, Carly Fiorina, doesn't matter--never okay to go there.

[SheilaT]

44. Bingo.

There are some places decent people just don't go.

[geek tragedy]

45. If we make exceptions for people we don't like, then we really don't oppose

the bigotry.

[cwydro]

46. The names in this poll don't surprise me.

Sadly.

[G_j]

47. of course not. nt

[PufPuf23]

48. I do not think highly of Hillary Clinton but I also do not call her names

(nor familiar, she is always Hillary Clinton or her title Clinton such as Senator Clinton).

Bitch is not a term I would use nor care to hear regards a woman.

[3catwoman3]

51. What an interesting question.

Some months ago, maybe longer, I had a post alerted on and hidden by jury decision when I used that word to describe Ann Coulter, preceded by the adjective "cold-hearted." At that time, unbeknownst to me, use of that word was strictly forbidden. I was quite surprised.

BTW, I stand by my original opinion of Ms. Coulter.

[geek tragedy]

64. "Professionally offended." Oh my. nt

[obamanut2012]

75. "professionally offended"

[Beacool]

55. I have no idea what brought this up, but I can guess that someone here used that epithet?

Calling women the "B" word is not appropriate on a progressive site. Then again, a lack of class and just plain good manners seems to prevail on DU.

[geek tragedy]

65. Used, and approved by a jury nt

[Beacool]

66. That just proves my point.

[obamanut2012]

76. The Admins need to see that

[Hoyt]

56. Saw a bumper sticker that said just that, next to an NRA sticker and other signs

of white wingism.

[Buddyblazon]

57. Unacceptable...

She is, however, an asshole.

[JPnoodleman]

58. Its not the polite thing to do for sure n/t.

[Blue_In_AK]

59. I'm not a fan,

but I wouldn't go that far.

[eggman67]

60. No need for that. There are much better descriptors

Liar, warmonger & corporate shill come to mind.

[DebDoo]

61. No it's not acceptable but it's not sexist either

To be honest I call her way worse things in the privacy of my own home, in the company of my husband. But I wouldn't call her a bitch online or in person around anyone else, even people who I'm fairly sure feel the same way as I do. Terms like "bitch" don't really do much to express the reasons you dislike someone - these kind of terms are too generic, too off the cuff. I'd rather talk about the things she does/did and says/said that I disagree with.

[etherealtruth]

62. Hmmmm .... is it OK to call a candidate (or anyone else on DU) a ....

.... a sexist, racists, homophobic, antisemitic, xenophobic (etc) slur?


Hmmmm ... I am going to go with ABSOLUTELY NOT.

[Orsino]

63. Fuck, no.

Even if we believe in degrading sexist insults as a fun pastime, surely we are smart enough not to want to look like we've been jerking it to Limbaugh for twenty years.

[demmiblue]

67. Nope, it would get a hide from me every time (directed at any woman). n/t

[Armstead]

68. Not at all

[Pharlo]

69. No. Why?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1013&pid=5098

I think the question posed here is addressed in the following paragraph:

I understand that many of you are not ready to think about the general election yet, and that's fine. But to those of you who are starting to think about the need to get past the division and start to think about healing, I think it is important that we begin to tone down the most divisive and over-the-top rhetoric about our primary candidates and their supporters. And in case it's not clear, that goes for both candidates.

[geek tragedy]

70. that word is being used to describe her at DU, and juries are letting it go nt

[Pharlo]

71. Considering the site admins request, juries ought not be 'letting it go'

Had it not been for their request, I would vote to let it go as well.

[geek tragedy]

86. it's not unheard of to have jurors who lack respect for this community, or at

least certain demographics within this community

[sammythecat]

72. I wouldn't call her that. Off the top of my head

I can't think of who would be worthy of that label, but there are bitches and bastards in the world. Dick Cheney is a bastard, but Bush is not. Go figure. I guess I don't think he's smart enough to be a bastard. Ann Coulter could be a bitch, but I'm not feeling it right now. I have to be angry and I'm not feeling angry right now, but that will change in short order. I've only been on DU for about 10 minutes and this is only the second post I've read.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

73. Is it acceptable to call The Donald an ass?

a hoofed mammal of the horse family with a braying call, typically smaller than a horse and with longer ears.
synonyms: donkey, jackass, jenny; burro

[obamanut2012]

74. It's unacceptable to call ANY woman a bitch, ever

Including women like Palin. It's a gendered slur. They are never okay.

Is it okay to call Ben Carson the nword? Or Obama?

[WhiteTara]

77. nor would it be acceptable to call Bernie a

bastard or son of a bitch. Why would anyone think that is acceptable? And they say there is no war on women.

[Lazy Daisy]

79. I've had discussions on this very topic

Argued at length how this word is wrong and should not be used by men.

Women have had this word used against them in a derogatory way for longer than any of us can remember.
The word bitch has so many different meanings depending on what is said with it and I'll not go into them all.

The only way that word can be used here, in my opinion, is if you are a female Hillary supporter and use it to mean she is your friend, compadre, like "That's my girl"

I think even female Bernie supporters shouldn't use this word because they wouldn't be using it in a non-hateful context.
We women should really stick together on this one.

[Goblinmonger]

80. How many purge lists are being made while we wait for a nominee?

[geek tragedy]

83. purge list?

this is a debate about community standards. there is a small but statistically significant group of dissenters here on this issue.

the vast majority of Sanders supporters reject the usage of that word here.

[Goblinmonger]

94. mm hmmm

You can go sell that somewhere else.

I think most people on DU reject the usage of that word. That you need to make this what it is tells us all we need to know about motivation.

[geek tragedy]

95. this has been a very useful exercise--it's actually dramatically increased my respect

for Sanders supporters here--the vast majority of them have gone on the record opposing sexist attacks against Clinton despite the very hard feelings in this primary.

[Goblinmonger]

96. People have been saying for quite some time that the BernieBros meme

is horrible. We've been trying to make it clear for a while that the sexism many Clinton supporters wanted to foist on Sanders supporters was just ridiculous. Glad something happened to make you come on board with that.

[Rob H.]

118. Nailed it

Somehow I can't believe that anyone with more than 10 hidden posts on their transparency page gives even a fraction of a shit about "community standards."

[Goblinmonger]

127. Right

Amnesty was such a good idea. 11 hides. Boggles the mind.

[LexVegas]

81. I see some mens rights activists are active here. nt

[Bodych]

84. The "W" Word Offends Me More

As in "wh***".

It just makes me wince when I see it, and I immediately stop reading whoever posted it.

[geek tragedy]

85. I can't disagree, but I think both are toxic on a progressive website nt

[Bodych]

89. No Question: "Toxic" Is the Right Word /

[Karma13612]

116. Yup, I react the same way to that one

But don't seem to feel badly about the b word. Wonder if it has anything to do with environment, how it was used or not used around us while growing up, etc.

I respect the site's rules and keep it clean.

(Female, educated, 62, white, brought up properly, grew up in the country, but also lived in NYC for long enuf to have to toughen and get thickened skin)

[LexVegas]

87. The results of this poll - un-fucking-believable.

Or, for this site recently...completely fucking believable.

[beedle]

90. No, never acceptable

Bernie supporter.

[hrmjustin]

91. No it is not and I am sad to see that a few said yes but glad most said no.

[LexVegas]

92. 12% (as of now) is more than a few. nt

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

93. Personally, I think it's inappropriate ...

... to call anyone a bitch. From Hillary Clinton to Ann Coulter.

[marble falls]

97. No one should be called anything that dehuminizes by its use.

[demmiblue]

98. Also, I never understood the fascination with The Rude Pundit (really NSFW):

Ann Coulter's cunt is just filled with sour grapes. Already a self-mutilating chode-guzzler of Olympian appetites, you can read Coulter's Joycean urine stream of deranged consciousness dribbled onto the page and actually see her go more and more insane as the column (if by "column," you mean, "a visit to a puppy abattoir&quot goes on. She scribbles out her usual piquant mixture of bugfuck insane arguments and shitty jokes before turning on her own party. Coulter rips into McCain, going at him for the very mavericky things that got him any attention in the first place and that he turned his back on during the election: "How could we go after Obama for his illegal alien aunt and for supporting driver's licenses for illegal aliens when McCain fanatically pushed amnesty along with his good friend Teddy Kennedy?"

The best is when Coulter actually bends her legs over her head and bites her own clit: "I am now liberated to announce that all I care about is hunting down and punishing every Republican who voted for McCain in the primaries." It's always great when a stripper stands on stage, tells the guys staring at her tits that they're not tipping enough to see her cooter, and then the guys still don't toss any more bills at her. It's democracy at its finest.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2008/11/why-hell-not-lets-gloat-some-more.html

Yet people here comment on and rec Rude Pundit threads all the time.

[demmiblue]

109. :gasp: including the OP.

[Lordquinton]

99. Is it OK to say

That a supporter of a Democratic canadite is "wearing an I'm with stupid tee-shirt"?

[LisaM]

101. And 16 percent say yes!

SMH.

[LisaM]

102. This is also CLEARLY a partisan ploy to get Hillary and that word together in an OP

I'm ashamed that this even stands as an unblocked OP.

[demmiblue]

111. +1

Sometimes people aren't what they seem.

[geek tragedy]

124. posts that call her that word get left by juries, why would posts

questioning whether that's within community standards get hidden?

As you can see from the voting, there's a small but durable percentage of people here who are willing to state for the record that it's okay to call her that here

[Blue_Tires]

105. It's verboten

Hell, on this message board I can't even apply the word to men...

[demmiblue]

107. Awww... you has a sad that you can't use a gender-based slur.

[Blue_Tires]

112. Not always used in that context by me, but whatev

[demmiblue]

113. Not always...

but sometimes.

I wonder what other gender slurs you find acceptable to personally use... sometimes.

[Blue_Tires]

115. No need to 'wonder'

I've got a 40,000-post history on this forum. The search function is located on the upper right-hand corner of your screen -- Go crazy....

[Bill USA]

108. Bernies minions don't need "Bitch". They've managed to call her that without actually using the word

But I would suspect anybody using that word, in reference to Hillary Clinton, are Republicans "for" Bernie. They are here to indulge themselves in Trump like adolescent behavior and to help get their preferred candidate into the cross-hairs.

[demmiblue]

110. Y'all really seem to like using that word. Hmmm...

[Bill USA]

114. note to friend. the word "bitch" was in quotes. I wasnt using it in a sentence to describe anybody.

[Tarc]

117. That this question needs to be asked is evidence of a serious problem with some users here

16 of them, as of this moment,

[geek tragedy]

121. I'd say 21 nt

[Starry Messenger]

122. What did I miss?

It's only going to get worse when she wins, btw. The real resentment will crawl out from behind the masks. #beentheredonethat

[geek tragedy]

123. linky goodness

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=1620555

doubled down too, juries stamped their approval

[Starry Messenger]

125. Gah.

You know how when President Obama was elected, all kinds of racist mess crawled out from the collective American id? When Hillary succeeds, the parallel effect is going to explode--and this country *really* hates women. It just lurks under a polite veneer on the left...usually.

[geek tragedy]

126. about 90% of it will be on the right, but the 10% that isn't

will be pretty nasty to behold

[obamanut2012]

131. Oh, it'll be way more than 10% on the left

I totally agree with Starry on this, from personal experience.

[Starry Messenger]

132. Yup.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

130. NO! It's disrespectful

[MerryBlooms]

133. That should have been hidden and should always be hidden, imo.

There are a lot of posts that should be hidden, but aren't. But let's face it, as long as some of these folks don't get 2 hides within a 24hr period (even then they're only flagged for a day or two), there is zero punishment for these shitty posts. The admins have given folks like you're pointing out, a free-pass, and we're stuck with it.

[runaway hero]

134. why?

most people don't think that this is okay, why do we need a poll to tell us this?