“FEMINIST HOPES DASHED,” the headline on the newspaper sprawled out across the table in the Coffeehouse screamed. I had stopped in, as I do now and then, and spotted some old friends sitting in the back, reading the paper. I sat with them for awhile, talking about this and that, and somehow the discussion came around to politics, as it so often does, and we expressed dismay over the headline.

If there’s one thing about this election that’s pissed me off, it’s the characterization of feminists and feminism which has sprawled throughout the media, giving all of us a bad name. A very small and vocal minority has created an ideal topic for articles by being completely insane, allowing the media to generalize, creating the idea that all feminists are crazy.

“For years,” I was explaining to my friends, “I was reluctant to call myself a feminist because of the crazed antics of some radical feminists. And then, I realized that it’s really important to identify as a feminist, to show that there is a broad cross-section of ideas and ways of thinking in the feminist movement.”

It causes me to foam at the mouth when I read headlines like the one above, suggesting that because a crappy female candidate failed to hoodwink the country into voting for her, feminists nation-wide are crushed. There’s no hope for women in politics. Feminism is dead.

Now, for sure, there are some feminists who are very bummed out right now, and there are also some things about this election that bummed me out, as a feminist. There was a whole lot of sexism going on, and it was not only broadly accepted, but even a topic of joking and funtime. People showed up at Clinton rallies with shirts that said “make me a sandwich,” and I assure you that if someone had showed up at an Obama speech with a shirt that said “go pick my cotton,” there would have been widespread outrage. I’m not sad because Clinton lost, but I am sad that so much blatant sexism was allowed to pass without comment or discussion.

This election definitely illustrated, for me, the vast work which still lies ahead for the feminist movement. The fact that Clinton’s gender was used against her was awful, and despicable, and it makes me extremely angry to see how many people just totally missed this, or ignored it as not important. It is important that a major female contender for the Presidential nomination was treated as a laughingstock, and that is an issue which should be addressed. It is important that outspoken female supporters for Clinton got called “stupid cunts,” and got messages on their YouTube videos talking about how much the commenters wanted to rape them. This, my homechickens, is not ok.

But, ultimately, she lost the election not because she is a woman, but because she is a Clinton, and this needs to be accepted. There was nastiness which also needs to be addressed, to be certain, but people who are deluded into thinking that the election was solely about gender need to rethink their positions.

And, let me tell you, nothing infuriates me more than the lunatic fringe of women who claim that they will vote for McCain over Obama. This isn’t just a profound insult; it’s a smear on the face of the feminist movement, and ultimately, it’s self-harming. I don’t care how bitter you are, as a woman, a vote for McCain is a vote to go back to the kitchen and cook some pies until you get pregnant. It’s a vote against the huge gains for women’s rights which have been made in the last century. It’s a vote which says that women should not have control of their own bodies and destinies. And it’s a vote which tells people that feminists are so crazy that they would rather shoot themselves in the vagina (or wherever) than vote for Obama, and that’s just bad public relations.

For the love of Pete, women, don’t vote for McCain. Not just because it would be a bad choice for you personally, and it would, and because it would be a horrible choice for America, but because if McCain wins, the disaffected feminist bloc is going to be blamed for it, and that really will dash the hopes of feminists, by setting the feminist movement back 40 years, to the era when feminists were all viewed as deluded bra-less idiots. And even if you don’t care about being viewed as a lunatic fringe, how about respecting the work of thousands of women who are trying to legitimize feminism, who are trying to actively fight for women’s rights, who are trying to make a concrete, actual difference in the world?