Patricia Murphy is the editor of Citizen Jane Politics, a Web site for women at citizenjanepolitics.com.
There is so much material out there on politics. Why do women need their own Web site?
The only people who ask me why women need theirown Web site are men. Men really don’t get it. When I was telling people what I was planning, women said, “Oh, that’s a great idea.” And men were like, “Why would she do that? I don’t understand.”
Then help me, as a man, understand.
Women were 55 percent of the voters in the 2004 election and they’re also 55 percent of the online community. But they’re just 20 percent of the online political community.
How would you describe the other 80 percent?
A lot of the sites frame politics as a contact sport. You see a lot of boxing metaphors like, “We want to see blood on the floor.” There’s a lot of conversation about how it’s like the NCAA basketball tournament. Stuff that means nothing to me. And so I wanted to frame it for women more as a consumer choice.
Are women more likely to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton because she’s a woman?
I don’t think so. I talk to as many women who will not vote for Hillary as will vote for Hillary. Some women tell me, “I absolutely love Hillary Clinton, I will vote for her, I’m so excited that there could be a woman in the White House.” And then other women tell me, “I hate Hillary Clinton.”
So she’s as polarizing among women as she is among men?
I would even say more so. I think women have a very complicated relationship with themselves. Women support each other as often as they cut each other down, which is a little sad. And I think Hillary will be both the beneficiary and the victim of that.
