GOP Candidate Speaks Against Sexism in Room Covered in Sexist Graffiti

Fed up with sexist online abuse, conservative South Dakota Senate candidate Annette Bosworth gave a press conference in a room covered in sexist graffiti to make a point about how sexism is awful. On one hand, good. We can all fight sexism together no matter who we vote for straight ticket in the polls. On the other hand: hello, Annette . Welcome to the internet. It’s terrible here.

According to Talking Points Memo, Bosworth’s in a “long shot” Senate campaign that’s been marred with nongendered scandal. But just because she’s probably not going to be South Dakota’s next Senator doesn’t mean what she said in her “mature audiences only” press conference didn’t ring true.

This room is an artistic representation of the atmosphere of this election and if it feels oppressive or offensive and overwhelming, then the artists have done their job because I asked them: go to the Internet, Google me and pick a name. Spell it just as it’s spelled on the Internet and represent that on my campaign signs. South Dakota, this is your community, too.

Feels weird to type this, but: Fuck yeah, Annette Bosworth. She continues.

The Democrats talk about a war on women, but much of what you see is written by the supposedly tolerant liberals. Their message is clear: conservative women are fair game. If you are a female and a Republican, anything goes. Look at these signs. Look at the messages sent by our country. We have a problem, and it’s not being talked about.

This is where Bosworth loses me a little, because, I mean. It kind of is being talked about. Like, a lot. It’s kind of leading every news broadcast in the country right now. And before a mental infant with a misogynist chip on his shoulder murdered all those people in California because he hates women and can’t get laid, there were dozens of high-traffic websites on the web that discuss exactly what Bosworth is getting at, including this website.

That’s not to say that Bosworth is wrong about her larger point — that any woman who dares speak up in public, stealing valuable platform and yelling space from a man who could be yelling about man-things faces a barrage of hate from men who think that they’re more entitled to that space. And liberal men, it seems, apply a double standard to conservative women, unloading the same sort of vitriol against them that they’d decry if it were aimed at women with whom they agreed. Which almost makes their sexism worse, when you think about it. I’d rather be unconditionally hated by someone over something I can’t control than be given the opportunity to move into their good graces by kissing their ring and nodding my head and playing along.