Female Cartoonists On Drawing Hillary Clinton

From The Huffington Post.

Cartoon by Signe Wilkinson

Signe Wilkinson, Ann Telnaes and Jen Sorensen are three women cartoonists who’ve watched Clinton transform from a first lady to a senator to secretary of state to a presidential candidate.

They’ve also watched Clinton critics habitually lob gender-based criticisms at the politician, from references to her “shrill” mannerisms to claims that she’s playing a nonexistent “woman’s card.”

As cartoonists, these distractions from the issues and policies at hand ― the ones they’re tasked with challenging in clever, visual ways ― can be frustrating. And as women, the blatant sexism can be plain intolerable.

Cartoon by Jen Sorensen

For Sorensen, her role as a woman cartoonist covering Clinton has involved a lot of back and forth. “When I’m criticizing her for her war vote, say, I’ve drawn her as Napoleon,” she said. “But, at other times, I feel myself feeling sympathetic. So I go back and forth between, honestly, criticizing her on the issues, and then also feeling like I have to defend her against sexism.”

At the end of the day, Wilkinson says it’s thrilling to see another woman rise to the level of presidential candidate. “I can be happy about that and then also unhappy with the individual actions she takes later,” she reiterated.

Like her female colleagues, she’d like to be able to do her job without the constant shadow of the gender imbalance in politics. “We’re women cartoonists but we’re cartoonists,” Telnaes added. “We go after people, this is our job.”

Cartoon by Ann Telnaes

The complete article, links and video here.