Why TIME’s cover of Hillary doesn’t bother me at all

(Editor's note: I wrote and posted this on January 19, 2014, but I decided to post it again tonight. Obviously, when this was written, she had not yet declared her official presidential candidacy so do keep that in mind as you read. However, it is crazy to re-read about the stir she was already causing 18 months ago. Please let me know what you think!)

Did you see the January 27 cover of Time magazine?

For some reason, it’s causing quite a stir among Hillary Clinton’s supporters, but for the life of me, I cannot grasp why. On the cover, a tiny man (quite possibly, “The Man”) is jumping out of the way so he isn’t squashed by a blue-pant-suited-leg and black heel, next to the headline: “Can Anyone Stop Hillary? How to scare off your rivals without actually running (yet)”

To be clear, the cover is the controversy, not the article itself. I have not read the article so I have no idea what David Von Drehle (the author) thinks about her or writes about her, and I frankly don’t care, because to me, the COVER BOOMS POWER. People are pissed because women are primarily placed into two categories – weak and emotional or bitchy and bossy – and they feel the Time cover is just another example of that, but I don’t see that. I don’t see sexism. I don’t see gender struggles. I don’t see ball-busters and bra-burners.

All I see is progress

and fear

and a woman in office.

I am a feminist, and I support and believe in Hillary Clinton. To me, the cover is representative of who she is – yes, what she wears, and, yes, that she is on the move – but also how she is not going away. She is domineering, she is resilient, she is a powerhouse, and she is a force to be reckoned with – all traits that men in power strive to have. In fact, I think the magazine cover is further highlighting the impact she is making and how threatened people – men and women, but especially men – are by her.

Pant suits and kitten heels are her trademark looks (she calls herself a “pantsuit aficionado” on her Twitter bio, for crying out loud). They were when Bill was in office, they were when she ran for President, and they were when she hugged me in first grade for something awesome I did at school. (I have no idea what she was doing in Reading, Pennsylvania, but I do know I was wearing a pink baseball cap – backwards, I believe – and a tye-dyed jumper, and as soon as I can find the picture, I will upload it and change all of your lives.)

I think it’s incredible that I can look at that cover and know exactly who they’re referring to, even if her name wasn’t on it. I dream of a day when my presence or my work or my opinion is so powerful that my scarf or glasses or STILETTOS are recognized and discussed without my NAME even being attached. She isn’t even running yet, and men are leaping out of her way. She isn’t even running yet, and she cannot be stopped. She isn’t even running yet, and she is making headlines.

She. Isn’t. Even. Running. Yet.

#Politics