"Women are the fiercer sex"
The Asheville Citizen-Times' Kerra Bolton writes:
Women are the fiercer sex. That's why it came as no surprise that three female lawmakers were among the first Democrats to publicly break ranks and ask House Speaker Jim Black to resign.
Later in the piece she writes:
Soft-core sexism continues to taint the culture of the General Assembly. After five years on this beat, I still have to explain to lawmakers that it’s not appropriate to hug me or call me "shug," especially in front of my peers.
Click here to read the whole thing.
To be fair, the principal clerks of both houses are women, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue runs the Senate with a velvet-clad iron fist and many of the senior advisors to both Black and Senate leader Marc Basnight are women. (And, as Bolton notes, of 120 House members, 33 are women. Of 50 senators, 7 are women.)
But no, I don't think Bolton is exaggerating. The rhythms of the General Assembly when it's in session are still distinctly southern, which entails both the charming and genteel and, well, some of what Bolton is writing about.