海角大神

鈥楳orning Joe鈥� host Joe Scarborough sent out a seven-word tweet Tuesday night that launched a thousand ships. A fleet of feminist crusaders mounted a viral attack against the MSNBC talk show host, defending Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton against what they perceived as a sexist remark.

But 鈥楳orning Joe鈥� hasn鈥檛 backtracked or apologized. He says he stands behind his comment.

In his opinion, he insists, telling Hillary to smile is kind of an act of feminism in itself. He says he is practicing gender-blindness by allowing Hillary to be subject to the same criticism as men. After all, that is only fair to her and the American people.聽

鈥淲e鈥檝e hammered all candidates on their style and substance. We try to hold all candidates to the same standard,鈥� he tweeted at 6:51 am Wednesday morning.

And in an opinion piece published in The Washington Post Wednesday night, Scarborough points out that he slammed Trump鈥檚 negative post-win attitude just as hard.聽

鈥淏ut to those suggesting that critiquing a woman in the same way that one would critique a man is unfair, I can only say that there are no microaggressions when you are running for the highest office in the land,鈥� says Scarborough.聽

鈥淣o man should say 鈥榮mile鈥� to a woman walking down the street,鈥� explains Scarborough. 鈥淏ut Clinton is not a pedestrian on her way to work. She is the most experienced politician on the national stage today who wants to be the next president of the United States. Critiquing anyone鈥檚 political skills who seeks that office is always fair game. Whether your name is Donald, Ted or Hillary.鈥澛�

But thing is, say feminists and gender experts, he didn鈥檛.聽

Female politicians experience a double bind, explained Deborah Tannen, an expert on gender and linguistics at Georgetown University, in a phone interview with 海角大神 on Thursday. And a double bind is different from a double standard. A double bind means there are two mutually exclusive demands, and anything you do to satisfy one violates the other. All female politicians experience a double bind because the demands of being a woman violate the demands of being a strong leader.聽

鈥淗e didn鈥檛 tweet Trump should smile,鈥� says Dr. Tannen. 鈥淗e is saying he would now, but at the time he didn鈥檛 tweet Trump should smile. But he did tweet Hillary should smile, even though he admits now that she does smile more. It鈥檚 the invisible hand of the double bind.鈥澛�

And why did he not tweet about Trump鈥檚 frown Tuesday night? Probably because it didn鈥檛 even register to him, says Tannen.

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 notice when the men don鈥檛 smile because you don鈥檛 expect them too 鈥� and when [Hillary] does smile you don鈥檛 notice because it is part of the landscape, it is what you expect. People notice what is unexpected,鈥� adds Tannen. 鈥淭he trickiest thing about the double bind is that it鈥檚 invisible. The reason you are responding the way is because of what you expect for people of that sex. He recognized Hillary didn鈥檛 smile because she is female.鈥澛�

Even if Scarborough had sent the same exact tweet to Donald instead of Hillary Tuesday night, feminists and pro-Hillary advocates say that it鈥檚 not the same thing. If the same sexist criticism was offered to both a man and woman, they say, it wouldn't carry the same weight in both cases.

鈥淛ust because you levy the same criticism towards a man doesn鈥檛 mean it will be interpreted the same way,鈥� Nicole Bauer, a professor of gender and politics at the University of Alabama, tells The Monitor in a phone interview Thursday. Female candidates have to 鈥渨alk the line鈥� between being both tough and likable, but this is 鈥渘ot something that male candidates ever have to consider.鈥�

鈥淚f Donald Trump doesn鈥檛 smile, he won鈥檛 lose any voters on that,鈥� adds Dr. Bauer.聽