Every single human should watch this video of Samantha Bee breaking down sexism and female political candidates

We’re less than two years away from the 2020 presidential election, and a number of female candidates have already announced their plans to run within the Democratic party. While this is undoubtedly a sign of progress and good news for women on so many levels (it was previously newsworthy that one woman was running in one of the two major parties), there are already signs that sexism is going to be a major issue for these candidates.

The “likability” question has come up countless times in the days and weeks since Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, and Tulsi Gabbard announced their intentions to run. Instead of focusing on what each candidate brings to the table and their various platforms, many conservative outlets have been discussing if these women are “likable” (a question that almost never gets posed to male candidates). Even a number of progressive outlets have been framing many of their discussions around whether or not each of the politicians will be able to overcome the “sexist likability question”…which ironically only serves to direct attention toward their gender and away from their actual credentials.

Late-night host Samantha Bee perfectly broke this infuriating double standard down on the January 23rd episode of her show Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.

Watch the video below.

"When we frame women candidates like this, right off the bat it becomes impossible to actually discuss them with nuance down the line," Bee said. "Everything's either 'Yas queen, you woke up flawless!' or 'Burn witch!' [...] And it's not that women are too sensitive, or that they don't want the same tough treatment that male candidates get. The same treatment is exactly what we want. Do't walk about women's voices, hair, children, husbands. volume, or likability."

She continued: “Press them on their refusal to apologize to tribal communities, a concerning history as a prosecutor, a bad pre-senate record on guns and immigration. […]. Bring whatever political fire you have. Just make sure you’re going just as hard on their male counterparts.”

Like we said, the above video should be necessary viewing for everyone.