Even if unintentional, Killer Mike’s ‘uterus’ quote was still sexist

Let me begin with my bias: I’m a longtime fan and follower of Killer Mike — he’s an incredible rapper and his politics are generally on point. Not uncoincidentally, he’s also a huge supporter of Democratic Socialist presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders.

Always good on issues of race and class (and generally good on the woman issue, too), Killer Mike made an unfortunate remark during a rally for Sanders at Morehouse College in Atlanta on Tuesday, which has stirred up quite the controversy online.

Decontexualized, the quote sounds… not great.

Contextualized, the quote sounds a little less rough.

All that said, even if, as Killer Mike (and others) pointed out, he was simply quoting what activist Jane Elliott told him — “Michael, a uterus doesn’t qualify you to be president of the United States” — there’s still a problem…

Killer Mike’s point, that simply being a woman doesn’t necessarily make you a progressive or qualified to be president, is one I agree with (even women don’t always have women’s best interests in mind). I would certainly support a socialist man over a right wing woman (provided that that man was a solid ally to women) in an election. We have male allies who are better on issues like prostitution and pornography than many women are, even. But all that said, I have to wonder: Is there really anything wrong with wanting a female president… Because she is female?

We act like female solidarity equates to “playing the gender card” or “voting with our vaginas,” but I have yet to hear male solidarity referred to as such. In fact, male solidarity is rarely even acknowledged as being male solidarity — certainly it’s not seen as a gender bias… Because the truth is that we see men as the norm and women as the anomaly.

In other words, few would accuse Sanders supporters of “voting with their penises.”

What this quote shows is not that Killer Mike is a virulent misogynist, but that we still see women as “other.”

I mean, for (practically) all of history we’ve voted for men because they have penises — that is to say, because society decided males were more fit for positions of power than women — yet we don’t discuss “the male vote” in that way.

Men have been supporting men for eons — it’s called the “old boys club” or “bros before hoes.” So even if Clinton supporters are, as they say, “voting with their vaginas,” who cares? I mean, maybe it’s about time…

Meghan Murphy

Founder & Editor

Meghan Murphy is a freelance writer and journalist from Vancouver, BC. She has been podcasting and writing about feminism since 2010 and has published work in numerous national and international publications, including The Spectator, UnHerd, Quillette, the CBC, New Statesman, Vice, Al Jazeera, The Globe and Mail, and more. Meghan completed a Masters degree in the department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Simon Fraser University in 2012 and is now exiled in Mexico with her very photogenic dog.