As Women Rise in Politics, Fault Lines Change

Article here. Excerpt:

'When Hillary Clinton ran for Senate in 2000, her Republican rival, Rick Lazio, walked over to Clinton during a debate waving a pledge he demanded she sign; the subsequent outrage over what was seen as an invasion of Clinton's personal space both solidified Clinton's support among women and underlined that gender remained very much an issue in politics.

"...you can't make a point forcefully if you're a man and the person you are making a point with is a woman," Lazio said at the time in response to the anger directed towards him. He added: ''I just think that that's sexist."

Yet in the 2010 races, male politicians had no problems aggressively challenging their female opponents, and the female candidates were more likely to highlight their business experience than their gender.
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In a lament of the "fascist feminist" movement, meanwhile, Cassy Fiano - who appears on her blog in a tank top, pointing a gun and smiling - wrote that women like Brown "champion strong, empowered women, yet they consistently try to instill a victim mentality in women."

The question of victimhood arose more than once in Haley's South Carolina primary, though it wasn't necessarily clear who was the victim in question. Haley aggressively denied two allegations she had engaged in extramarital affairs and resisted being cast as a victim after a political rival criticized her using a racial slur. Her success appears to have been rooted in part in her deft handling of the situations: Even if she benefited from the sort of rallying-around effect that boosted Clinton in 2000, she never appeared to be seeking it out.'