Women Know It Ain't Over When It's Over

by Connie Schultz

It seems a growing number of Americans are hoping the yearlong vitriol aimed at strong women will evaporate right along with the presidential candidacy of Hillary Clinton.

"Whew," the collective sigh will sound. "Glad that's over."

Don't pop the corks just yet.

Last week, I was invited to celebrate the opening of the new Women's Center at Ohio University. About a hundred people, mostly female students, gathered for me to say a few words and then for them to share what's on their minds.

The young women didn't waste any time on happy-face pretenses, as one after another stood and asked questions.

"How can you be a strong woman and not have others call you a bitch?"

"How do you keep going when others ridicule you?"

"Can you really be a strong woman and still have men like you?"

One woman stood up and, in a halted voice, managed one sentence before the tears started to fall: "Someone gave me a Hillary nutcracker as a gift."

The room fell silent. A friend grabbed her hand, and several older women in the audience started wiping their eyes.

"I can see that felt personal and that it hurt you," I said slowly. She nodded, her eyes never leaving mine.

I looked out at that room full of young women and felt the stomach-clenching certainty that these were no ordinary storm clouds swirling overhead. We have only begun to feel the damage of the punch-and-pummel pundits who couldn't wrap their limited minds around the first woman to win a presidential primary, again and again.

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