Following the outrage that ensued over Renowned writer and unapologetic feminist, Chimamanda Adichie's questioning of Hillary Clinton's use of "Wife" as the first descriptor on her Twitter bio, during a conversation at the PEN world voices festival. The writer has taken to Facebook page to reply critics, cynics and haters. Read below.



Dear Unnamed Person Who I Am Told Is On Social Media Saying I am Her Family and Telling Me to Shut Up:

Cynicism is ugly. It doesn’t flatter anyone. Yours doesn’t suit you at all.

I remember you vaguely; I think you were in my class in primary school. And now you claim to be my ‘family’ and you are asking me to shut up.

Did you watch the video of the conversation? Did you read a full transcript?

I am tired of Nigerians who read a headline and, without bothering to get details and context, jump on the outrage bandwagon and form lazy, shallow opinions.

I am tired of Nigerians cynically thinking of anybody in public life as a ‘brand.’ No, I am not a brand. I am a person who feels strongly about certain issues. I choose to talk honestly about them. I made the choice to talk about feminism knowing very well the kind of hostility it brings – but I think it’s important and I will continue to speak my truth and hope to bring about some change, no matter how small. Adirom agba egwu ka m data ego.

No, of course you don’t actually deserve a response, but I have some free time today. So I want to make you feel a little important because it sounds like you need it.

And I want to reflect on an absolutely lovely hour spent on stage with Hillary Clinton.

I was happy when I was told that Hillary Clinton had specifically requested to be in conversation with me at the PEN World Voices festival. I am an unapologetic fan of Ms. Clinton’s. I have been for many years.

I felt quite emotional when I met her. Having read and followed her for years, it was moving to see her: the warm, human, observant, present, thoughtful person (and looking wonderful, with her hair and makeup on point!).

She said she had read my books and I restrained myself from doing cartwheels.

“Is there anything you don’t want to talk about?” I asked backstage.

“Ask me anything,” she said.

Towards the end of our conversation, I told her how, having read her writing about her own life, I think she has a great love story with Bill Clinton. A wonderful friendship. I said I feel irritated and protective of her when people dissect her personal life, but I also confessed to having an interest myself, particularly about her public Twitter profile. (I first noticed it when I was researching a piece about her during the presidential campaign). I was upset that the first word used to describe her was ‘wife.’ Was it a choice she had made or was it something done for her campaign and, if it was a choice she had made, did she think my reaction to it was fair?

Her response was very thoughtful.

I was too excited, emotional, slightly nervous, to be on stage with this remarkable woman. Had I kept in mind how easily outrage-mongers would jump on a headline, I would have phrased my question better. I would not have made it about my being upset, because it can come across as navel-gazing.

But the truth is that we were supposed to be having a ‘conversation,’ the context of our conversation was personal and warm, I had made the decision to speak from the heart, and it would be dishonest to pretend that I had not reacted personally to so many issues around Ms. Clinton, whose life has become a kind of crucible of all the questions that affect women.

We all react personally to public figures. And I WAS upset that the Twitter bio of a woman who is the most accomplished person to run for President of the United States, would begin with ‘wife.’ And considering her personal history, it just didn’t seem to fit.

I felt that ‘wife’ was used as an attempt to placate all the men and women who will not vote for a woman unless they are able to see her FIRST in domestic terms.

Yes, it’s just Twitter. But it matters. It’s a public platform. It’s where people go to hear directly from her.

And there is context to consider.

In LIVING HISTORY, Ms.Clinton writes that the two most difficult decisions she has made in her life were staying married to Bill Clinton and running for the senate seat in New York.

Women, especially women in public life, face a lot of societal pressure about how to be, how to live, much more than men do. Women in public life are considered ‘cold’ and ‘un-relatable’ unless they define themselves in domestic terms. Women’s accomplishments are often considered incomplete unless they have also ticked the ‘marriage’ box. These things are not true of men, even though marriage can be a wonderful thing for both men and women.

Feminism is indeed about choice. But it is intellectually lazy to suggest that, since everything is about ‘choice,’ none of these choices can be interrogated. Choices are never made in a vacuum. And sometimes, for women, choices are not always real choices.

After she got married, Ms. Clinton kept her name, but she was so viciously criticized for this that she then took on her husband’s name. Was this a ‘choice?’ Would she have done so if she wasn’t being attacked and if she didn’t want to feel responsible for her husband’s potential losing of votes?

During the last presidential campaign, she was expected to account for the policies of her husband’s administration. She was labeled an enabler of sexual harassment. She was accused of cynically staying married because she wanted to benefit politically.

Much of Ms. Clinton’s public image is a caricature of a person who is untrustworthy, calculated, cold, dishonest. That caricature has its roots in her early public life when she was the First Lady of Arkansas.

Her crime was that she did not conform to the traditional role of First Lady. She had kept her name. She clearly considered herself to be her husband’s equal partner. She did not intend merely to be a Wife. She had her own dreams, her own ambition. She dared to say that she wasn’t planning on ‘staying home and baking cookies,’ which was not about denigrating stay-at-home mothers but simply about saying that that was not what she wanted to do.

A small comment about a small thing, but it was significant and revolutionary because she was consciously resisting the status quo.

But she was attacked for that. Horrendously. And those attacks were repeated so often that they stuck and they contributed to her being reduced to a caricature.

It was therefore upsetting to see her first descriptor as ‘wife.’ The question isn’t about including ‘wife’ in her Twitter bio. The question is about giving ‘wife’ a certain primacy as the first word that describes her, and it speaks to larger questions about the societal expectations placed on women.

Ms. Clinton wrote in her most recent book WHAT HAPPENED, that she ran for president because she thinks she would have been a ‘damned good president.’

She certainly would have been. And so I suggested, half-joking, that ‘Would have been a damned good president’ is a perfect Twitter bio start. And then mother and wife and grandma and Senator and hair icon etc could follow!

I completely stand by my question and by my conviction that it is a subject that matters.

I had a truly enlightening evening on that stage with Ms. Clinton, and was once again awed by her grit, her humanity, her sparkling intelligence.

After the conversation, Ms. Clinton told me, “It was like talking to a friend.” She is now my Aunty For Life.

Oh, as for YOU, Unnamed Person, saying that I am ‘family’ to you, mbakwa biko. The people I consider family don’t ‘do petty.’

Saying “shut up” to a woman who airs an opinion is so unoriginal. Try and be a bit more inventive.

Try reasoning. Try intelligent debate. Try understanding things in context before you reveal your ignorant misogyny to the world. Try reading more than a headline. Try reading a whole book. Or two. And please keep talking. Keep speaking. Don’t ever shut up.

~CNA

Too lazy to finish up

I didn't read everything

Well said.


Let haters, go n die! Barbara Bush(may her soul RIP), can make use of d 'wife'.

somadinho10:
Too lazy to finish up

Buhari's lazy youth

Nonsense!

Chimamanda, you remain a pained, bitter feminist and you may die as one if care is not taken.

ashjay001:
Well said.


Let haters, go n die! Barbara Bush(may her soul RIP), can make use of d 'wife'.

And a man like you is supporting a woman who thinks that the word wife is demeaning for an accomplished woman?

May you not marry the monster you are trying to create!

When I realized how silly most young men of nowadays are was when I saw some young men cheering and supporting an abrasive lady like ceecee. Truly, you are lost!

Chimanda you and Buhari are Bastards

Ayohbk:
Following the outrage that ensued over Renowned writer and unapologetic feminist, Chimamanda Adichie's questioning of Hillary Clinton's use of "Wife" as the first descriptor on her Twitter bio, during a conversation at the PEN world voices festival. The writer has taken to Facebook page to reply critics, cynics and haters. Read below.



Dear Unnamed Person Who I Am Told Is On Social Media Saying I am Her Family and Telling Me to Shut Up:

Cynicism is ugly. It doesn’t flatter anyone. Yours doesn’t suit you at all.

I remember you vaguely; I think you were in my class in primary school. And now you claim to be my ‘family’ and you are asking me to shut up.

Did you watch the video of the conversation? Did you read a full transcript?

I am tired of Nigerians who read a headline and, without bothering to get details and context, jump on the outrage bandwagon and form lazy, shallow opinions.

I am tired of Nigerians cynically thinking of anybody in public life as a ‘brand.’ No, I am not a brand. I am a person who feels strongly about certain issues. I choose to talk honestly about them. I made the choice to talk about feminism knowing very well the kind of hostility it brings – but I think it’s important and I will continue to speak my truth and hope to bring about some change, no matter how small. Adirom agba egwu ka m data ego.

No, of course you don’t actually deserve a response, but I have some free time today. So I want to make you feel a little important because it sounds like you need it.

And I want to reflect on an absolutely lovely hour spent on stage with Hillary Clinton.

I was happy when I was told that Hillary Clinton had specifically requested to be in conversation with me at the PEN World Voices festival. I am an unapologetic fan of Ms. Clinton’s. I have been for many years.

I felt quite emotional when I met her. Having read and followed her for years, it was moving to see her: the warm, human, observant, present, thoughtful person (and looking wonderful, with her hair and makeup on point!).

She said she had read my books and I restrained myself from doing cartwheels.

“Is there anything you don’t want to talk about?” I asked backstage.

“Ask me anything,” she said.

Towards the end of our conversation, I told her how, having read her writing about her own life, I think she has a great love story with Bill Clinton. A wonderful friendship. I said I feel irritated and protective of her when people dissect her personal life, but I also confessed to having an interest myself, particularly about her public Twitter profile. (I first noticed it when I was researching a piece about her during the presidential campaign). I was upset that the first word used to describe her was ‘wife.’ Was it a choice she had made or was it something done for her campaign and, if it was a choice she had made, did she think my reaction to it was fair?

Her response was very thoughtful.

I was too excited, emotional, slightly nervous, to be on stage with this remarkable woman. Had I kept in mind how easily outrage-mongers would jump on a headline, I would have phrased my question better. I would not have made it about my being upset, because it can come across as navel-gazing.

But the truth is that we were supposed to be having a ‘conversation,’ the context of our conversation was personal and warm, I had made the decision to speak from the heart, and it would be dishonest to pretend that I had not reacted personally to so many issues around Ms. Clinton, whose life has become a kind of crucible of all the questions that affect women.

We all react personally to public figures. And I WAS upset that the Twitter bio of a woman who is the most accomplished person to run for President of the United States, would begin with ‘wife.’ And considering her personal history, it just didn’t seem to fit.

I felt that ‘wife’ was used as an attempt to placate all the men and women who will not vote for a woman unless they are able to see her FIRST in domestic terms.

Yes, it’s just Twitter. But it matters. It’s a public platform. It’s where people go to hear directly from her.

And there is context to consider.

In LIVING HISTORY, Ms.Clinton writes that the two most difficult decisions she has made in her life were staying married to Bill Clinton and running for the senate seat in New York.

Women, especially women in public life, face a lot of societal pressure about how to be, how to live, much more than men do. Women in public life are considered ‘cold’ and ‘un-relatable’ unless they define themselves in domestic terms. Women’s accomplishments are often considered incomplete unless they have also ticked the ‘marriage’ box. These things are not true of men, even though marriage can be a wonderful thing for both men and women.

Feminism is indeed about choice. But it is intellectually lazy to suggest that, since everything is about ‘choice,’ none of these choices can be interrogated. Choices are never made in a vacuum. And sometimes, for women, choices are not always real choices.

After she got married, Ms. Clinton kept her name, but she was so viciously criticized for this that she then took on her husband’s name. Was this a ‘choice?’ Would she have done so if she wasn’t being attacked and if she didn’t want to feel responsible for her husband’s potential losing of votes?

During the last presidential campaign, she was expected to account for the policies of her husband’s administration. She was labeled an enabler of sexual harassment. She was accused of cynically staying married because she wanted to benefit politically.

Much of Ms. Clinton’s public image is a caricature of a person who is untrustworthy, calculated, cold, dishonest. That caricature has its roots in her early public life when she was the First Lady of Arkansas.

Her crime was that she did not conform to the traditional role of First Lady. She had kept her name. She clearly considered herself to be her husband’s equal partner. She did not intend merely to be a Wife. She had her own dreams, her own ambition. She dared to say that she wasn’t planning on ‘staying home and baking cookies,’ which was not about denigrating stay-at-home mothers but simply about saying that that was not what she wanted to do.

A small comment about a small thing, but it was significant and revolutionary because she was consciously resisting the status quo.

But she was attacked for that. Horrendously. And those attacks were repeated so often that they stuck and they contributed to her being reduced to a caricature.

It was therefore upsetting to see her first descriptor as ‘wife.’ The question isn’t about including ‘wife’ in her Twitter bio. The question is about giving ‘wife’ a certain primacy as the first word that describes her, and it speaks to larger questions about the societal expectations placed on women.

Ms. Clinton wrote in her most recent book WHAT HAPPENED, that she ran for president because she thinks she would have been a ‘damned good president.’

She certainly would have been. And so I suggested, half-joking, that ‘Would have been a damned good president’ is a perfect Twitter bio start. And then mother and wife and grandma and Senator and hair icon etc could follow!

I completely stand by my question and by my conviction that it is a subject that matters.

I had a truly enlightening evening on that stage with Ms. Clinton, and was once again awed by her grit, her humanity, her sparkling intelligence.

After the conversation, Ms. Clinton told me, “It was like talking to a friend.” She is now my Aunty For Life.

Oh, as for YOU, Unnamed Person, saying that I am ‘family’ to you, mbakwa biko. The people I consider family don’t ‘do petty.’

Saying “shut up” to a woman who airs an opinion is so unoriginal. Try and be a bit more inventive.

Try reasoning. Try intelligent debate. Try understanding things in context before you reveal your ignorant misogyny to the world. Try reading more than a headline. Try reading a whole book. Or two. And please keep talking. Keep speaking. Don’t ever shut up.

~CNA

Chi and her gbegele habit, another lazy youth for obodo Nigeria

So happy to be on stage talking to hillary

Its because of moronic statements like this that hillary lost and a woman may never win for time to come

Women are gr8 pretenders, always forming innocent

Chimamanda u have time 2 read comments when u are not busy tumble drying ur husbands dirty boxers or receiving an award in oxford. U will probz read dis 1 cos u sooo vain about what we are saying about you. Lol. Its natural dear. Own it.

U are accomplished but this table u are shaking, u sef stand on top am

As african woman wey u be, u suppose know say wife na achievement

Or why did u marry?

Btw chimamanda u didnt have to elucidate, we could see through your BS with just the headlines and the snippets

Just because u can write a good book doesnt mean u can do secret service code easter egg hiding in ur daily life

U r a band and a celeb and u were absorbd by the public who understand ur thinking because som of us hv brains too. Some too laxy to read or write, true. But many still dey understand. Nobodys criticism of u was wrong. stop forcing this ur warped world view on everybody. We dont want that lifestyle. We want relationships beforw achievements as hillary tried to explain to u.

Hillary wrote wife because she thought it will help her campaign.

U admire bill clinton and hillary clinton friendship

A man that bust his nut on an interns face in the oval office while dropping bombs in the middle east and his wife was out there asking people to jail super predators aka negros

U must be as sick as she is

fiizznation:
I know how people like chimamanda thinks. Well like she rightly stated; 'is her own opinion' and people should respect that.

People like chimamanda always hide their real selves under some bogus "opinions". Is a free world though!!!

Bogus opinions fashioned by shanequia, leticia, jaquanda, and planned parenthood

Oh and dont forget child support payments ordered by family courts

Women just need to chill with their world domination calendar

I dont blame dem sha. Ambition is rife. We encourage it but not at the expense of our livelihood

dinachi:

And a man like you is supporting a woman who thinks that the word wife is demeaning for an accomplished woman?

May you not marry the monster you are trying to create!

When I realized how silly most young men of nowadays are was when I saw some young men cheering and supporting an abrasive lady like ceecee. Truly, you are lost!

That he's a man doesn't mean his opinion must conform with what a majority of Nigerian guys on a public forum like Nairaland would espouse to.

Chimamanda is just a bitter woman,I pray she finds happiness someday.

dinachi:

And a man like you is supporting a woman who thinks that the word wife is demeaning for an accomplished woman?

May you not marry the monster you are trying to create!

When I realized how silly most young men of nowadays are was when I saw some young men cheering and supporting an abrasive lady like ceecee. Truly, you are lost!

I actually dislike ceecee. How can, Hillary, have achieved all she did,...... wait, did u even read d article If u did n u're sprouting this thrash, then gtf off my mentions! I'm tired of humouring archaic minds!

Oh, I married someone like ceecee, they want d world, but can't play nice! They want to win, but can't bend over backwards. Hillary, had bent so backwards,her back was broken n had to be reconstructed!

I'm an equal opportunity brother. If u want to be a wife, be a wife, if u want to run d world, then bleeping run it! Male or female, just do ur thing.

Hillary Clinton, is a brand on her own! She isn't riding on her hubby's coattails, why should her first label, then be a wife! She was a wife, yet chased her dream, made d sacrifices, no apologies n fools want to begrudge her titles

kimbraa:
That he's a man doesn't mean his opinion must conform with what a majority of Nigerian guys on a public forum like Nairaland would espouse to.

No excuse for the gibberish just pray he doesn't Mary any lady who thinks that way.

scribble:


Bogus opinions fashioned by shanequia, leticia, jaquanda, and planned parenthood

Oh and dont forget child support payments ordered by family courts

Women just need to chill with their world domination calendar

I dont blame dem sha. Ambition is rife. We encourage it but not at the expense of our livelihood

And at the end of everything all; if a serious introspection is conducted, we will all see how the world doesn't necessary need 'feminist or any feminism movement'.

In our world of today, women are favoured more than the male folks and is even crystal clear like the moon on the skylines of the Sahara desert.

I don't even understand these feminism champions. Like what do they really want the world to do for women? Is it when all men turn to slaves(real slavery) for women, that's when some gender equality will be achieved or what?

I seriously don't get it so as my wife who I treat like a queen. Smh!!!

dinachi:

No excuse for the gibberish just pray he doesn't Mary any lady who thinks that way.

Take a break and read what Chimamanda said, but I know that the feelings that accompanies the word "Feminism" won't let most of you do so. Like she said, read.

This woman has some serious issues.

Is it her Twitter handle? As smart as this woman is, she just proved she can speak without thinking.

Her village people are definitely on her case. They want to strip her of every bit of respect she's gained.

ashjay001:


I actually dislike ceecee. How can, Hillary, have achieved all she did,...... wait, did u even read d article If u did n u're sprouting this thrash, then gtf off my mentions! I'm tired of humouring archaic minds!

Oh, I married someone like ceecee, they want d world, but can't play nice! They want to win, but can't bend over backwards. Hillary, had bent so backwards,her back was broken n had to be reconstructed!

I'm an equal opportunity brother. If u want to be a wife, be a wife, if u want to run d world, then bleeping run it! Male or female, just do ur thing.

Hillary Clinton, is a brand on her own! She isn't riding on her hubby's coattails, why should her first label, then be a wife! She was a wife, yet chased her dream, made d sacrifices, no apologies n fools want to begrudge her titles

You are still shooting blanks! She(Hillary Clinton) made the choice to have her first label as wife. What does Chinamanda care? She can decide to bellittle her marital vows and her husband( that's her business) but trying to imply as she did that the word wife should not be another accomplished woman's first label is completely silly. Those who value the family system value the word wife those who don't find it demeaning. Chinamanda can bleat for all I care but for you a man to be rooting for that kind of mindset baffles me. Honestly, you don't know what you are supporting just like ceecee supporters have no clue about the devil they were unleashing by supporting her!

kimbraa:
Take a break and read what Chimamanda said, but I know that the feelings that accompanies the word "Feminism" won't let most of you do so. Like she said, read.

I have and she is not making any sense at all. Most of you are just star struck. You are not using your senses! That woman has just taken another major jab at marriages and you are just supporting her naïvely!

dinachi:

I have and she is not making any sense at all. Most of you are just star struck. You are not using your senses! That woman has just taken another major jab at marriages and you are just supporting her naïvely!

LOL. From Chimamanda's viewpoint, Hillary is an achiever and in fact amongst the great women in the world. Other words could've come first on her bio based on her profile before wife? Note that she didn't say Hillary shouldn't be described as wife but she felt it was kind of demeaning for a woman of her position. Sentiments aside, he's got a valid reason to question Hillary on it. What I don't get is why you all are killing yourselves over a conversation she had with Hillary and got the answers she desired? Did the woman complain?

Ayohbk:
Following the outrage that ensued over Renowned writer and unapologetic feminist, Chimamanda Adichie's questioning of Hillary Clinton's use of "Wife" as the first descriptor on her Twitter bio, during a conversation at the PEN world voices festival. The writer has taken to Facebook page to reply critics, cynics and haters. Read below.



Dear Unnamed Person Who I Am Told Is On Social Media Saying I am Her Family and Telling Me to Shut Up:

Cynicism is ugly. It doesn’t flatter anyone. Yours doesn’t suit you at all.

I remember you vaguely; I think you were in my class in primary school. And now you claim to be my ‘family’ and you are asking me to shut up.

Did you watch the video of the conversation? Did you read a full transcript?

I am tired of Nigerians who read a headline and, without bothering to get details and context, jump on the outrage bandwagon and form lazy, shallow opinions.

I am tired of Nigerians cynically thinking of anybody in public life as a ‘brand.’ No, I am not a brand. I am a person who feels strongly about certain issues. I choose to talk honestly about them. I made the choice to talk about feminism knowing very well the kind of hostility it brings – but I think it’s important and I will continue to speak my truth and hope to bring about some change, no matter how small. Adirom agba egwu ka m data ego.

No, of course you don’t actually deserve a response, but I have some free time today. So I want to make you feel a little important because it sounds like you need it.

And I want to reflect on an absolutely lovely hour spent on stage with Hillary Clinton.

I was happy when I was told that Hillary Clinton had specifically requested to be in conversation with me at the PEN World Voices festival. I am an unapologetic fan of Ms. Clinton’s. I have been for many years.

I felt quite emotional when I met her. Having read and followed her for years, it was moving to see her: the warm, human, observant, present, thoughtful person (and looking wonderful, with her hair and makeup on point!).

She said she had read my books and I restrained myself from doing cartwheels.

“Is there anything you don’t want to talk about?” I asked backstage.

“Ask me anything,” she said.

Towards the end of our conversation, I told her how, having read her writing about her own life, I think she has a great love story with Bill Clinton. A wonderful friendship. I said I feel irritated and protective of her when people dissect her personal life, but I also confessed to having an interest myself, particularly about her public Twitter profile. (I first noticed it when I was researching a piece about her during the presidential campaign). I was upset that the first word used to describe her was ‘wife.’ Was it a choice she had made or was it something done for her campaign and, if it was a choice she had made, did she think my reaction to it was fair?

Her response was very thoughtful.

I was too excited, emotional, slightly nervous, to be on stage with this remarkable woman. Had I kept in mind how easily outrage-mongers would jump on a headline, I would have phrased my question better. I would not have made it about my being upset, because it can come across as navel-gazing.

But the truth is that we were supposed to be having a ‘conversation,’ the context of our conversation was personal and warm, I had made the decision to speak from the heart, and it would be dishonest to pretend that I had not reacted personally to so many issues around Ms. Clinton, whose life has become a kind of crucible of all the questions that affect women.

We all react personally to public figures. And I WAS upset that the Twitter bio of a woman who is the most accomplished person to run for President of the United States, would begin with ‘wife.’ And considering her personal history, it just didn’t seem to fit.

I felt that ‘wife’ was used as an attempt to placate all the men and women who will not vote for a woman unless they are able to see her FIRST in domestic terms.

Yes, it’s just Twitter. But it matters. It’s a public platform. It’s where people go to hear directly from her.

And there is context to consider.

In LIVING HISTORY, Ms.Clinton writes that the two most difficult decisions she has made in her life were staying married to Bill Clinton and running for the senate seat in New York.

Women, especially women in public life, face a lot of societal pressure about how to be, how to live, much more than men do. Women in public life are considered ‘cold’ and ‘un-relatable’ unless they define themselves in domestic terms. Women’s accomplishments are often considered incomplete unless they have also ticked the ‘marriage’ box. These things are not true of men, even though marriage can be a wonderful thing for both men and women.

Feminism is indeed about choice. But it is intellectually lazy to suggest that, since everything is about ‘choice,’ none of these choices can be interrogated. Choices are never made in a vacuum. And sometimes, for women, choices are not always real choices.

After she got married, Ms. Clinton kept her name, but she was so viciously criticized for this that she then took on her husband’s name. Was this a ‘choice?’ Would she have done so if she wasn’t being attacked and if she didn’t want to feel responsible for her husband’s potential losing of votes?

During the last presidential campaign, she was expected to account for the policies of her husband’s administration. She was labeled an enabler of sexual harassment. She was accused of cynically staying married because she wanted to benefit politically.

Much of Ms. Clinton’s public image is a caricature of a person who is untrustworthy, calculated, cold, dishonest. That caricature has its roots in her early public life when she was the First Lady of Arkansas.

Her crime was that she did not conform to the traditional role of First Lady. She had kept her name. She clearly considered herself to be her husband’s equal partner. She did not intend merely to be a Wife. She had her own dreams, her own ambition. She dared to say that she wasn’t planning on ‘staying home and baking cookies,’ which was not about denigrating stay-at-home mothers but simply about saying that that was not what she wanted to do.

A small comment about a small thing, but it was significant and revolutionary because she was consciously resisting the status quo.

But she was attacked for that. Horrendously. And those attacks were repeated so often that they stuck and they contributed to her being reduced to a caricature.

It was therefore upsetting to see her first descriptor as ‘wife.’ The question isn’t about including ‘wife’ in her Twitter bio. The question is about giving ‘wife’ a certain primacy as the first word that describes her, and it speaks to larger questions about the societal expectations placed on women.

Ms. Clinton wrote in her most recent book WHAT HAPPENED, that she ran for president because she thinks she would have been a ‘damned good president.’

She certainly would have been. And so I suggested, half-joking, that ‘Would have been a damned good president’ is a perfect Twitter bio start. And then mother and wife and grandma and Senator and hair icon etc could follow!

I completely stand by my question and by my conviction that it is a subject that matters.

I had a truly enlightening evening on that stage with Ms. Clinton, and was once again awed by her grit, her humanity, her sparkling intelligence.

After the conversation, Ms. Clinton told me, “It was like talking to a friend.” She is now my Aunty For Life.

Oh, as for YOU, Unnamed Person, saying that I am ‘family’ to you, mbakwa biko. The people I consider family don’t ‘do petty.’

Saying “shut up” to a woman who airs an opinion is so unoriginal. Try and be a bit more inventive.

Try reasoning. Try intelligent debate. Try understanding things in context before you reveal your ignorant misogyny to the world. Try reading more than a headline. Try reading a whole book. Or two. And please keep talking. Keep speaking. Don’t ever shut up.

~CNA

I keep thanking God that Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't win that election...

and to Chimamanda
She's Mrs not Ms...

Come back to Africa and start campaigning against the payment of bride price because I don't see any reason why I should pay money before marrying you and won't see you as a "lesser" human. I'd surely take you for a commodity.

To the monkeys that will/may quote me out of context; I'm a stunch feminist.




other foods for thought;

because a lady is ruling the UK, females are treated like gods there.

As a lady you slap a man in his ass without his consent and you'd be praised for it. You won't be jailed because of useless excuses like; oh she was only playing with him, it's a lie, oh she's pregnant, oh she has kids.
As a man you slap a lady in her ass without her and you'd be imprisoned or sued.
That's exactly what's happening in places like Britain, Germany and USA right now.

what's gonna happen if a lady is allowed to rule Nigeria today
men will be treated like dogs.

I pray I never become a President some day, because if I do, any lady that falsely accuses someone of rape, sexual harrasment and molestation will spend their entire lives in jail.


Why should a man be the one to lose more in a case of divorce?
We are in a world where women can't build homes, only men build homes and women move in freely.
Women are always awarded custody of children.


Women are more favoured than men in very very many things yet I pity the men don't complain, even if they do some people still call them "weak".



like I said earlier I pray I don't become a President... that's all I got to say..


Quote me and answer yourself

The guy above me has said the bitter truth.
Feminism is a curse
It has never been about gender equality, it is all about superiority.
Any man that falls for this bull$hit doesn't have a brain

I have only one word for Chimpamanda. Since the designation "wife" is an insult to a woman, start a crusade asking married women to not wear their bling.

Bloody rascal!

Chimamanda carry the woman matter for head,the person telling her to shut up is doing the same and if I say anything it will be toeing the line.
i no blame them na these mosquitoes dey keep me awake especially the ones making noise in my ears(I hate that)

Earthbound:
This woman has some serious issues.

Is it her Twitter handle? As smart as this woman is, she just proved she can speak without thinking.

Her village people are definitely on her case. They want to strip her of every bit of respect she's gained.

Thank you, o! It is NOT her Twitter handle. Even Hilary who wrote 'wife' as part of her titles, told her clearly that she values her relationships, as much as she values her achievements. So why is Chimamanda trying to make it look like being a wife, is somehow inferior to all the rest of Hilary's achievements, when Hilary herself clearly considers her role as 'wife,' 'mother' and 'grandmother' to be equally important as her other roles such as Senator, former FLOTUS etc?

Wow! Everyone just believes they have the wisdom to tell others how to live their lives. Ms Clinton and Adichie are both adults and very strong and influential women. Can people just respect the conversation they had with each other? They are both feminist and understand perfectly what they are talking about. I see a lot of young men here infuriated by Ms Adichie's response/comments, it is high time they understood that been an ambitious or out spoken woman doesn't mean that such women don't have respect for institutions like marriage. Wisdom or strong opinion about such controversial topics are not necessarily the reserve of men. Women equally go through the rigours of life too and even more, so thinking they can't have strong opinions on things like marriage or women right or things that really affect them is tantamount to been sidelined from your own life. BTW in our citadels of learning all over no one gives less complicated exam questions to women. They are treated equally and subjected to the same rigours of recruitment and are expected to maintain same standards in work place policies, why should women then take a back seat in the affairs of their own lives. It is high time we realise that human beings whether male or female are vessels that contain a soul, mental faculty and a spirit and such abstracts are neither male or female. The hormones that make a woman grow breast is different from what makes a man grow beard. It doesn't mean they are subservient to each they just play different roles. Why arguing over the consequence of hormonal activities and not the mental activities.

Before posting this reply, I made sure I searched the net and got certain facts right. Here's my humble conclusion:

I kinda angry with a particular comment above which suggested feminism is more about superiority than gender equality. There is this unholy pride in the 'real' feminists.
Now, here's Chimamanda Adichie trying to introduce a new culture which cannot see the light of the day.

And she and her likes should know this: the fact that you have succeeded in a sphere of life doesn't make you an authority in others. There are boundaries.

And these days, Chimamanda Adichie is getting way too over her head. Besides, it's obvious she hates being known as a wife. And that is shame!

Earthbound:
This woman has some serious issues.

Is it her Twitter handle? As smart as this woman is, she just proved she can speak without thinking.

Her village people are definitely on her case. They want to strip her of every bit of respect she's gained.

Yea. She's being tripping off since Donald Trump won the last election. She's really messing up these days.

ashjay001:


I actually dislike ceecee. How can, Hillary, have achieved all she did,...... wait, did u even read d article If u did n u're sprouting this thrash, then gtf off my mentions! I'm tired of humouring archaic minds!

Oh, I married someone like ceecee, they want d world, but can't play nice! They want to win, but can't bend over backwards. Hillary, had bent so backwards,her back was broken n had to be reconstructed!

I'm an equal opportunity brother. If u want to be a wife, be a wife, if u want to run d world, then bleeping run it! Male or female, just do ur thing.

Hillary Clinton, is a brand on her own! She isn't riding on her hubby's coattails, why should her first label, then be a wife! She was a wife, yet chased her dream, made d sacrifices, no apologies n fools want to begrudge her titles

You just said what was in my mind. I wanted to ask the person that quote you if he actually read the whole thing before quoting you. She didn't said the word wife is demeaning, for God sake she wouldn't be a wife if it's demeaning.

People need to stop making fast conclusions about things without first reading and understanding