Serious props to NPR's Nina Totenberg today. Rather than simply reporting about "concerns over Sotomayor's temperament" or allegations that she's a "bully," Totenberg actually compared audio clips of questions asked by Sotomayor and those asked by her male colleagues -- or those who would be her colleagues if she is confirmed for the Supreme Court. And -- SURPRISE! -- Sotomayor is no "meaner" than your average justice. She is just femaler.
Judge Guido Calabresi, former Yale Law School dean and Sotomayor's mentor, now says that when Sotomayor first joined the Court of Appeals, he began hearing rumors that she was overly aggressive, and he started keeping track, comparing the substance and tone of her questions with those of his male colleagues and his own questions."And I must say I found no difference at all. So I concluded that all that was going on was that there were some male lawyers who couldn't stand being questioned toughly by a woman," Calabresi says. "It was sexism in its most obvious form."
And what if such criticism came from a woman lawyer? Well, says Calabresi, women can be just as sexist as men in their expectations of how a woman judge should act.
This echoes so many familiar themes. Women in positions of power in the workplace are often considered meaner than their male colleagues who act the same way. And how many times have we seen a woman of color who exhibits strength and power described as threatening, "fiery," or too angry? (This is why so much effort has gone into reclaiming the term "bitch" -- if society is going to use it to describe a woman who is bold and direct, shouldn't we consider that a compliment?)
Listening to the clips, Sotomayor sounds an awful lot like John Roberts -- who did not face any concerns about his "fiery temperament" during his confirmation hearings. Totenberg exposes this talking-point for what it is: straight-up sexism, with some racism mixed in for good measure.
(For a great take on reclaiming "bitch," see Shark-Fu's post on taking back words. She also talked about this subject on NPR!)
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I was listening to a story about this on NPR this morning. One of her colleagues actually kept track of how many times she interrupted people when she was on a case and it was actually far less than her male colleagues. They also compared audio clips of her speaking to audio clips of Justice Scalia. Her rhetorical style was no more harsh than his.
How pathetic that in this day and age some people see a woman doing her job as a "bully."
Ugh, this kind of stuff really pisses me off. I mean, if Sotomayor WEREN'T at least a little "mean" (aka, doing her job and doing it well), how the hell would she have gotten anywhere? She wouldn't have. If she's super nice, then she's seen as weak, if she's "mean", she's a bitch. Maybe the spotlight that's been on her recently will work to our advantage. Good on Calabresi and Totenberg - maybe people will start noticing what's what, or, at the very least, see a high-powered woman as strong instead of threatening. Because it's not just Sotomayor. We kind of had an article about this on The Glass Hammer: http://www.theglasshammer.com/news/2009/05/21/are-working-women-mean/.
Re Roberts, in fact I even seem to remember him being praised for being calm and even-tempered, unlike say Scalia.
Media coverage of Sotomayor is so strange and skewed along gender lines. Our contributor, Diane Vacca noticed the way the media coverage pointed up details like she's Hispanic and a woman, without mentioning that she graduated Summa Cum Laude from Princeton, and went on to Yale Law, aand the Yale Law Review.
Post here: http://womensvoicesforchange.org/sotomayor-buzz-week-two-media-sexism-times-ten.htm
Every woman that has been given even a modicum of authority has been there. In the first performance review for my first job out of college I was told "Your straightforward attitude tends to put people on the defensive." We're supposed to be warm, soft-spoken and submissive - not supreme court justices!