Responding to observations that the media’s frequent use of her first name is sexist, Hillary Clinton is asking journalists to simply use her maiden name, Rodham.
“I will no longer tolerate being referred to as ‘Hillary,’ a common practice in the male-dominated media which is meant to diminish my character,” Rodham said in an interview on Friday. “George W. Bush certainly never had to put up with people giving him diminutive names, and neither does President Obama.”
“And for better or for worse, the last name ‘Clinton’ will forever remind the public of my darling husband Bill, who was a fabulous president and I love him to pieces, but I am my own person,” she said
“Plus, ‘Clinton’ always sounded like the name of some unctuous Arkansas hick who can’t keep his willy in his pants and refers to his secretaries as ‘toots’ and ‘honeypot,'” she added. “Not like the last name ‘Rodham,’ which at least conveys some dignity and actually sounds like it belongs to a reverend.”
Rodham, an avowed feminist, only adopted her husband’s last name during his campaign for the governorship of Arkansas in the 1970s when advisors feared that her decision to keep her maiden name would draw the ire of the state’s conservative voters.
“This is a definite change for us, but it’s also an opportunity to rebrand our candidate as someone who isn’t shackled by archaic traditions, and who can transform like a chrysalis into something new but familiar,” said Nina Bartholomew, a name expert who works for the Rodham 2016 campaign. “Also, the last name ‘Rodham’ is a nod to the American immigrant experience, as her father was an impoverished English coal miner who in 1940 made a perilous 32-week journey to the U.S. by rowboat.”