By Joanna McClanahan of Ramblin’ Mama

Humans of New York, a popular Facebook photo blog, ran a photo of Hillary Clinton yesterday which is going viral. The photo included the presidential candidate’s story of taking her admissions test at Harvard and how her life experiences have shaped the person she is today.

While we’re waiting for the exam to start, a group of men began to yell things like: ‘You don’t need to be here.’ And ‘There’s plenty else you can do.’ It turned into a real ‘pile on.’ One of them even said: ‘If you take my spot, I’ll get drafted, and I’ll go to Vietnam, and I’ll die.’ And they weren’t kidding around. It was intense. It got very personal. But I couldn’t respond. I couldn’t afford to get distracted because I didn’t want to mess up the test. So I just kept looking down, hoping that the proctor would walk in the room.

This is an experience that all women can relate to in some way. Every woman knows what it’s like to be harassed and discriminated against because of our gender. Yes, every single woman. Of course our experiences vary, but the fact that we have all endured gender discrimination is not a point that should be disregarded or overlooked.

Clinton continued, explaining how she has had to learn to control her emotions and worries that she can sometimes come off as cold because of it.

I know that I can be perceived as aloof or cold or unemotional. But I had to learn as a young woman to control my emotions. And that’s a hard path to walk. Because you need to protect yourself, you need to keep steady, but at the same time you don’t want to seem ‘walled off.’ And sometimes I think I come across more in the ‘walled off’ arena. And if I create that perception, then I take responsibility. I don’t view myself as cold or unemotional. And neither do my friends. And neither does my family. But if that sometimes is the perception I create, then I can’t blame people for thinking that.

Funny, I don’t recall Donald Trump ever apologizing for his demeanor. How strange that we feel the need for a female candidate to excuse away being “unemotional,” as if the alternative of being “emotional” isn’t something she’d also be crucified for.

In a follow-up post, she discussed her feelings on “naturalness.”

But it was the comments on the viral post that deserve our attention and praise. While comment sections are typically where our faith in humanity goes to die, many of the comments were surprisingly supportive.

The top comment (and its top reply) reiterated an understanding of the unrealistic standards women face:

While the second most popular comment underlined how gender bias can be subtle and even subconscious:

Another commenter weighed in on how women are damned if they do and damned if they don’t:

The HONY post was so impactful because it was it wasn’t just about Hillary. It was about every woman who has endured harassment, discrimination, and double standards on the basis of gender alone. And yes, it was about recognizing how these experiences unite us more than they could ever divide us.

*****

About the Author

Joanna McClanahan is an Editor at MockMom. She’s also a Contributor at Sammiches & Psych Meds and has been published on Scary Mommy. You can find more from her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.