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In an advanced public relations class I teach, I usually begin by asking my students to discuss current events. Recently, a female student blurted out, "Hillary is a bitch." When prompted for further explanation, she discussed an article in The New York Times that examined Clinton's perception as a "bitch," according to the results of a recent poll. What's ironic about this poll is that Hillary had been previously criticized for being too soft when she showed emotion or cried during a campaign stop. After a debate in South Carolina, Clinton was criticized for "attacking" Obama about his ties to a "slumlord" in Chicago; this occurred after his attack on her affiliation with her husband, which somehow went unnoticed. She went from being a sap to being a bitch within a matter of seconds. She has also been criticized for showing too much cleavage and dressing like a man, all in the same week.

It seems that Clinton cannot win in the court of public opinion.

Dr. Kandace L. Harris, assistant professor of communication at Johnson C. Smith University comments, "Hillary Clinton's treatment by the media is clearly sexist. We are a society of categories, and everyone must fit neatly into his or her category. When someone challenges assumptions about that category, then language is used to symbolically return them to their category and the status attached to it. Although Clinton has privilege due to race, we still live in a very sexist society that is threatened by powerful women."

In spite of the fact that Clinton has many female supporters, her support is drowned out by the language of hate -- some of which is articulated by women. "It freaks me out that women are so quick to accept gender essentialism," says Grebowicz. "We are the ones that you often hear saying things like 'We're more emotional, talk more and catty.' These are things that women seem to embrace about womanhood. The uncritical social acceptance of gender essentialism is one of the reasons that women really do not unite as a group in a way that would create significant social, cultural and political change in this country."

When women commit "hate crimes and misdemeanors" against each other, it reverberates in society, feeding hateful language that is used by men and women.

One does not have to be a Hillary supporter to recognize the visceral language that is used when depicting her. "Bitch" is the preferred pejorative term that is uttered publicly and privately to describe her, and there is clearly a double standard when it comes to race and gender in terms of the language that is allowed to be used publicly. Can you imagine what would have happened had a John McCain supporter uttered, "So, how do we beat the nigger?" Instead, folks just laughed, including McCain, who was visibly nervous when this female supporter uttered the vile term."It is completely unacceptable to say something about the 'nature' of black people," says Grebowicz. "That would be identified as an outdated, archaic way of looking at people. It is perfectly acceptable to talk about women in this way because women seem to accept stereotyping in ways that blacks do not."

"It's a thin line between love and hate." -- The Persuaders

Obama has seemingly captured the hearts and minds of all types of Americans, not just black Americans. He even survived prodding by fading civil rights leaders who seemed too concerned at best and threatened at worse by a young, dynamic man who could displace their cultural capital in the African-American community. He cleared all the hurdles questioning his blackness (God forbid if you have one white parent, were born to an African and attended Harvard).

It's funny how the "one-drop" rule dropped off when determining the blackness of a literally defined African-American. "Enigma" was replaced by "rock star," which has become the term of choice used most often to describe him because of his wide appeal across many demographic categories.

All of the love, however, came to a screeching halt when Clinton supporter (and part-time Charlottean) Robert Johnson cast aspersions on Obama's character during a Clinton campaign stop in South Carolina. And as a result, Johnson came under attack by black intellectuals, pundits and the like.

"Uncle Tom" and "sellout" became the terms of choice when referring to Johnson. Folks were up in arms about his "attack" on Obama and let him know in myriad ways. Ironically, the language used to attack Johnson was hateful and mean-spirited. Politicians are in the limelight and expect to have dirt dug up and thrown in their direction. Why were folks so alarmed when Johnson did it? Perhaps it was because he was satisfying the "crabs in a barrel" stereotype -- when successful black people pull down or tear town other successful blacks out of fear, paranoia and jealousy.