Counterproductive misogyny

In A Strange Land has a good piece on the Kiwiblog right's counterproductive misogyny. Attacking Helen Clark for daring to be a powerful and successful woman has long been a stock in trade among the mouthbreathers - the current photoshop is just the latest in a long line, starting with the infamous "Helengrad" picture (which National was even crass enough to feature on its official website briefly under Brash). But while insinuations of lesbianism may play well down in the sewer, they don't go down so well with women:

Every time someone attacks Helen Clark for daring to be a woman, other women can feel threatened. What will happen to me if I dare to stick my head above the parapets, dare to try to achieve something in public life? Will I too be humiliated and ridiculed, just for being a woman?

Every time someone puts Helen Clark down for daring to be a woman, other women can feel as they too are being put down, insulted, held to be of little account. If it’s okay to put a degrading image of Helen Clark on the web, for everyone to see, will someone hold me in so little regard that my face, my body, my being will used for people to titter over, just because I am a woman?

Every time someone patronises Helen Clark because her clothes are wrong, her hair is wrong, she doesn’t use the same name as her husband, she doesn’t children, she speaks in a deep voice, really, she just isn’t a real woman at all, other women can feel that no matter what they do, they too will be poked at and criticised, for not being a woman in the right way.

Over time, all those attacks add up to sympathy, even identification with Helen Clark. And that in turn can translate to votes.

This effect has already been seen in the US democratic primary, as a response to misogynistic coverage of Hillary Clinton.

Given that National lost the last election because it was unable to attract the votes of women, it seems that the misogyny of their core supporters is a deeply counterproductive tactic. But given how hard they've worked to whip up and radicalise that base, I'm not sure they'll be able to just switch it off now that it is politically inconvenient.