Bitch

I get it.

I get why Secretary Clinton (I refer to people by their first names only if I know them. Or if they are Madonna) did not initially disclose her bout of pneumonia.

It’s not just that she’s a “private person,” as her aides and confidants say. It’s that she knows, boy does she ever know, that women are just not allowed to be fallible the way men are. If a woman gets sick, she is showing weakness. If a man gets sick, well, he gets sick. And look at how strong he was to keep working while he was sick! What stamina! And look at how he bounces back! What resilience!

This is not the HRC story. Here’s what’s trending (as they say): Look, she stumbled! Watch the video. Now watch it again. She had to be held up by secret service guys! Poor sickly lady. Is she too frail to be the president? Because, you know, women are frail creatures. If you discount all the medical evidence that shows women are constitutionally stronger than men, have fewer illnesses and live longer. So she’s that kind of frail.

Secretary Clinton has a case of pneumonia. Pneumonia is an incredibly common disease. It’s all around us. The reason most of us don’t catch it is because our immune systems kick in and beat it before it has a chance to take up residence in our lungs. Secretary Clinton’s immune system was busy handling not just the killing schedule of a presidential candidate and the grind of nonstop travel and public speaking and photo opping – that’s par for the course. We expect her (and the others) to handle that.

Her immune system was being assaulted by the added stress, the extraordinary burden, of being the most powerful and successful female political leader of her (any) generation. Of being the one with everything to lose (unlike Misters Trump and Sanders…who both had/have everything to gain). It is the internalized stress that comes from being called a bitch and having to pretend that doesn’t hurt. Of being criticized for not smiling. Seriously? When did that become a thing? Oh, I know: When a woman became the leading candidate.

And now, she is being criticized for not immediately disclosing the fact that she caught a (generally) easily cured common illness…while the other candidate skates along without disclosing his federal income taxes. Or, let’s see, his national security policies.

Women have to be better to be equal. Every woman alive today knows that. You have to be tough to be taken seriously. But if you’re tough, you’re a bitch. You can’t show emotion – PMS, anyone? – but if you don’t, you’re a bitch. If you’re not assertive, you’re timid. If you’re too assertive, you’re…yep, a bitch.

Secretary Clinton is a bitch with a lung infection. I hope the lung infection clears up soon. I hope she continues being a bitch.