Female "Person of the Year"

Kate Harding noticed, upon Time conferring its "Person of the Year" award on male person Ben Bernanke, that "there hasn't been a stand-alone female honoree since Corazon Aquino was 'Man of the Year' in 1986." (Time changed the honorific to "Person of the Year" in 1999, but, as Kate notes, "the linguistic switch had no apparent effect on the magazine's long and rarely interrupted stretch of honoring male persons at year's end.") So she asked some feminist writers for their picks for Female Person of Year.

Four women tied for the most nominations (three each) in a highly scientific poll of noted women writers who responded promptly to my e-mail. "I know it's an obvious answer, but I must vote for Hillary Clinton," said Double X's Jessica Grose. "She's just done a fantastic job as Secretary of State. She hasn't showboated, she's just put her head down and worked--without compromising any of her core beliefs. No wonder her approval rating is soaring. Also, I think Americans don't put enough stock in being able to handle defeat gracefully. It's all about the winners. Clinton lost the election and yet has become the consummate team player." Shakesville's Melissa McEwan added, "she gave us a hell of a gander at what a feminist looks like during her first year in President Obama's cabinet, whether it was delivering some major pwnage on reproductive rights or speaking out against sexual and gender-based violence while doing a little globetrotting awareness-raising. She also showed what it looks like to keep a campaign promise, by making good on her vow to make global gay rights an active 'part of American foreign policy,' in response to proposed legislation in Uganda to make homosexuality a crime punishable by death." "The Curse of the Good Girl" author Rachel Simmons also called Clinton the "duh" answer, but Bitch Ph.D's M. LeBlanc countered, "Duh! It's fucking Sonia Sotomayor. Obviously" -- a sentiment reinforced by Veronica I. Arreola, Director of Women in Science and Engineering at University of Illinois at Chicago (and Viva la Feminista owner) and Pamela Merritt, the Angry Black Bitch.

Sotomayor was my second pick, and it was a close call.

I submitted my choice to Kate with the (rhetorical) question: Is it terrible that I get a perverse thrill from knowing there are people who will read my nominating Hillary Clinton and roll their eyes so hard it's audible to bystanders?

Read the whole thing here.