hello, I don't know who to send this tip to, but the NYT has a story about equal parenting up.This seems like something interesting to feministing readers. Is there a more formal process of tip sharing?

How about clicking on the word "contact" that is located slightly below and to the right of the headline of the site?

Thank you, Hillary.

hear hear!! Thank you Hillary for all you have endured- you are a true trail blazer, thank you for showing us the way.

Here, here! And, what was with Whoopi Goldberg not liking Clinton's speech because it was all about her? I am sure others feel the same, I just did not get that at all.

That was a beautiful article and letter. It brought tears to my eyes. It makes me so grateful that Hillary had the ovaries to create so much change for women. She opened so many doors and I know her work has inspired so many women (and men) to realize that we still have a long way to go if we want gender equality.

Courtney, that was a beautiful letter. For the most part, I share its sentiments exactly, and I'm glad you wrote it.

However, this --

"Sometimes I felt as if you’d forgotten about the 'art of making possible,' and instead, stomped a path toward power. Next time, I hope an inspiring woman candidate can follow in your footsteps with a bit more authenticity..."

-- made me cringe just a bit. I understand that Dems are going to have differences of opinion on how Clinton ran her campaign, but I honestly feel that the difficulties of her position made it all but inevitable that she would disappoint in terms of race issues. I don't envy the tough choice that she was faced with, and I feel that she was, in a sense, cornered by the media and public perception into playing a card that she knew would backfire in some circles.

Not that that's an excuse, but I don't think it's a reason to call her "inauthentic," either.

I think she did the best she could, given who she is, who she was running against, and how it was being dissected and played up by the media.

But like I said, overall a beautiful piece. I'm glad you wrote it.

Courtney-Just read your full letter at TAP, and it made me cry. I hope that Chelsea gets the chance to read it to her mom.

I am a total Hillary Clinton supporter, and the outcome of this primary season was highly disappointing for me. People's transparent hate for a powerful woman was incredibly disheartening but the way Clinton never backed down and never let the misogynists stop her was inspiring.

FTA: "Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time"

As someone who personally admires Sen. H.R.C. but is an Obama supporter/voter I guess I read this as a sort of snarky remark. It seems to me that this statement translates to = those who didn't vote for me chose not to because of gender. After all isn't that what a "glass ceiling is", a gender-based impediment to advancement?

While I'm certain she did lose votes to gender she was running against a person of color who also certainly lost votes due to race. Is it at least possibly that she lost to B.O. because of herself and not her genitalia?

Also this whole "Voter" Vs. "Supporter" thing is kind of upsetting. I would hope that you're going to be a supporter instead of chewing sour grapes vocally. B.O. may not be your first choice, but w/o your support you might face losing another choice entirely.

well said, courtney. my thanks to hillary is for helping me realize it is okay to run for office even if you are not a perfect person. it's okay for a woman to make mistakes, stir up controversy and be divisive and still worthy of elected office.

You know, I hadn't considered that, but it's true -- now that her candidacy's over, it has sparked a dialogue on how badly women in power are treated, and the double standard evidenced. At least around here it has. I always knew a lot of good would come from her running, whether she won or not.

What distresses me is the knowledge that were Clinton to have given a speech referencing the glass ceiling mid-campaign, she'd've caught a ton of flak for it. Now that she's bowing out, however, everybody (and of course I don't mean Feministing readers) can congratulate her and themselves for coming close but not close enough. I suspect that much of the praise her speech won is predicated mostly on the fact that, whew, the bitch lost the race: Even people who before never acknowledged the biases she faced seem now to be praising the speech, paying lip service to the idea of a female president just after the actual possibility of it happening this year faded.

That, I think, is bull. Yes, good for Clinton, of course. Good for her for being a tough, brilliant policymaker who is far from fading in power -- not only for being an emblem of the glass ceiling.

Also, LogrusZed, I don't think her remark about the glass ceiling was a snarky accusation, as you said you suspect; rather, I think she busted it out now in large part because she knew that finally she could admit the obvious without damaging her campaign. I think Obama is a charismatic guy and understand his appeal, but I never understood why headlines intimated that those in rust belt states who voted for Clinton were bigots ('Racial tensions rule in WV vote' and the like) when they never seemed to intimate that the men who turned out for Obama were just afraid of Clinton's gender -- and I certainly don't understand why feminists sometimes fail to hold men accountable in that same way.

Also, my reading of the "'voter' vs. 'supporter'" thing you mention is this: People who say they voted for Obama but support Clinton mean to say simply that, during the primary race, they supported them both and simply don't want to imply that they didn't appreciate Clinton's candidacy, or something. Not to speak for other people, but that's how I interpreted those statements.

I've supported Obama for months, but thought Hillary's speech was gracious and proved how deserved her following was. I don't think she put cracks in that glass ceiling, I think she shattered it. Period.

LogrusZed:

I read her words as simply stating facts: that there IS gender bias in politics (and everywhere else, really) and that the support she's garnered will pave the way for other women.

She's not blaming her loss on the glass ceiling. She's saying it exists--and it does.

And it's gonna come down if enough of us keep throwing stones...

I love ya for this line, Courtney: "this storm of anxious masculinity..."

I mean, I love you for other reasons, but that's a very fine image in a superb letter.

Thanks for taking the time to send the letter. It's hilarious to see so many Obama supporters (and Obama himself) suddenly so grateful and full of respect now that she's not a "threat" to win. I'm sure the reverse would have happened if she had won, but I suspect the turnaround wouldn't have been quite as dramatic and guilt-ridden.

Oh well, she's tough enough to survive the loss, and I'm sure the media will continue to run occasional Hillary (and Bill) articles until November. Obama and McCain are waaaay too boring on their own.

I'm a Obama voter and Clinton supporter too! Loved the Letter. Might write my own now. You have inspired me.