Binders Full of Women

Binders Full of Women

Part of a series on 2012 United States Presidential Election. [View Related Entries]

Updated Oct 14, 2014 at 07:12PM EDT by Brad.

Added Oct 16, 2012 at 11:16PM EDT by Greg Leuch.

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About

Binders Full of Women is a direct quote said by the former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney while answering a question from an audience member during the second session of the 2012 United States presidential election debates held in October 2012.

Origin

On October 16th, 2012, the second round of the U.S. presidential debate took place at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. During the debate, an undecided voter by the name of Katherine Fenton asked both candidates about pay inequality for women, to which Romney replied with an anecdote about how he sought to form a gender-balanced cabinet during his governorship in Massachusetts:



“And I said, ‘Well, gosh, can’t we -- can’t we find some -- some women that are also qualified? I went to a number of women's groups and said, 'Can you help us find folks,' and they brought us whole binders full of women."

Spread

Online Reaction

Immediately after Romney's remark went on-air, image macros captioned with Romney’s “binder” response began circulating on Twitter, as well as the launch of parody blogs Binders Full of Women on Tumblr[2] and novelty account @RomneysBinder on Twitter.[3]


-DID SOMEONE SAY BINDERS FULL OF WOMENPaa facebook.com/mexwotd IF YOU GOT SOME BINDERS, GOT NEWS FOR YOU,SON IGOT 99 PAGES, AND A BITCH ON memegenerator.net ONE DOESNOTSIMPLY FILL BINDERS WITH WOMEN ERMAHGERD WORMERN NO ONE PUTS BABY IN A BINDER NOT SURE IFISHOULD BE HAPPY PEOPLE PAYING ATTENTION TO POLITICS ORSAD ALL THEY REMEMBER ARE BIG BIRD AND BINDERS FULL OF WOMEN

The following day, Redditor elSpanielo submitted a post to the /r/AdviceAnimals[15] subreddit titled “Obama doesn’t use binders,” which included an Internet Husband example featuring Barack and Michelle Obama (shown below) Within 11 hours, the post received over 11,000 up votes and 164 comments. As of October 18th, a Facebook fan page[28] titled "Binders Full Of Women" has more than 343,000 likes.


ASKED HIMIFHE HADANY BINDERS FULL OFWOMEN HE SAID HE'S GONE DIGITAL quickmeme.com

Also on October 16th, Amazon users began writing parody reviews of various binder products[16] sold on the site in a similar vein to Tuscan Whole Milk, Three Wolf Moon and BIC For Her Ballpoint Pens. These reviews ranged from men complaining about the lack of women in their binders (shown below, right) to women raving about the durability of the binder in which she is filed (shown below, right). Collections of these reviews were shared on news and internet culture sites including Buzzfeed[17], TIME[18], The Daily Beast[19], Yahoo! News[20], CNET[21] and Gizmodo[22] on October 18th.


2554 of 2620 people found the following review helptu ☆☆☆☆☆ One Missing Bit of Information You Might Want To Know October 18, 2012 By PenName220 Color Name: White For any of you who might be considering, like me, purchasing this binder based on the reviews, let me just point out one glaring omission: While this is a lovely, multi- purpose binder, IT DOES NOT COME WITH WOMEN. Presumably one is expected to help stock your empty binder with women For a first time buyer like myself, I have to say I would rather have waited until I had accumulated a few women before investing in a binder. Just a little warning for prospective buyers. 20 Comments | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No 8,419 of 8,710 people found the following review helpful ☆☆ A presidential candidate's choice is the choice for me, October 17, 2012 By Bazinga This review is from: Avery Durable View Binder with 2 Inch EZ-Turn Ring, White, 1 Binder (17032) (Office Product) As a woman, I'm not adept at making decisions that concern me. So when I need the right choice, I turn to the presidential candidate that KNOWS. One with prideful experience in this department. I don't want to be filed away in an inferior & confusing electronic doohickey that I couldn't possibly understand. Or heaven forbid, have a man ask for & listen to my ideas! I'd much rather rely on this top of the line, 1980s style, Avery Durable binder. It's the choice America can trust. My education, my ideas, my opinions, my choices, please PLEASE keep them safely stored away here and far away from the men that might fear them (I mean, want to use them to hire me somedaynever). I'd write more about this most useful product, but it's time I hurry home to make dinner Help other customers find the most helpful reviews Report abuse Permalink Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

News Media Coverage

On October 17th, yet another debate meme in the making was reported by several major news media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal,[4]NPR,[6] Wired,[7] The Atlantic,[8]CBS News[9] and Time,[12] who remarked in unison about the quote’s transformation into an Internet meme. Later that day, Today.com[10] published a piece by writer Helen A.S. Popkin titled “‘Binders Full of Women,’ other Internet memes trump voter issues,” which noted the growing influence of Internet memes in political campaigns. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal[13] interviewed Veronica De Souza, the creator of the “Binders Full of Women” Tumblr, who announced that the blog received over 11,000 followers within the first 24 hours. She went on to reveal that she hoped the success of the blog would bring her new employment opportunities, since she had been laid off from her position as a social media manager just hours prior to the debate.

Falsification of Romney's Claim

Later that same night, David S. Bernstein of the Boston Phoenix revealed[29] that a bipartisan women’s group called MassGAP had prepared a binder with the resumes of qualified female candidates for cabinet positions in 2002 before the gubernatorial election began.


SAYS HE'S GOT "BINDERS FULL OF WOMEN LIES ABOUT HOW HE GOT THE BINDER memegenerator.net

The next day, the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus issued a statement[30] confirming that it was the group that initiated the recruitment plan prior to the election by contacting both Mitt Romney and his opponent Shannon O’Brien. Both Bernstein's article and the group's statement were picked up by The Huffington Post[31] and Salon[14], which further highlighted the fact the "binders full of women" wasn't Romney's idea to begin with.

Protest in Ohio

On October 17th, Tiffany Ricci, a union organizer for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,[23] scheduled a small protest in front of the Ohio Republican party's headquarters where she and four other people demonstrated against Romney's comment while dressed in binder costumes. The photos were posted on Talking Points Memo[24] before being reshared on Liberty News Network[25], Twitchy[26] and political commentator Rachel Maddow's Twitter account for her television show.[27]


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BinderCon

In July 2014, New York-based womens' literary club VIDA, in collaboration with a number of other gender equality advocacy groups, launched a Kickstarter fundraising campaign with a proposal to host a symposium for women and gender non-conformist writers, as well as several social media accounts on Facebook and Tumblr to promote the fundraising efforts. By September, the campaign had successfully raised $55,000 for the event. On September 22nd, 2014, a Twitter account for BinderCon,[32] which describes itself as "a conference for/by/on women and gender non-conforming writers," was created. In less than a month, the account gained over 1,000 followers.


SYMPOSIUM ON WOMEN WRITERS TODAY OCTOBER 11 & 12, 2014

The conference was held at New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Center on October 11th and 12th in New York and hosted by author Leigh Stein and comedian Lux Alptraum. During the conference, #BinderCon became a trending topic on Twitter,[33] and over the course of the weekend, the hashtag was tweeted out[54] over 5,000 times. Some of the notable speakers at the event included Columbia University's Tow Center for Digital Journalism director Emily Bell, founding editor of Jezebel Anna Holmes and former New York Times editor-in-chief Jill Abramson, among many other guests of honor and workshop panelists.

Search Interest

External Resources

[1] CNN – "Binders Full of Women Trending", 16 Oct 2012.

[2] Tumblr – Binders Full of Women

[3] Twitter – @Romney's Binder

[4] Wall Street Journal – Binders Full of Women Spawns Three Ring Circus on Web

[5] Slate – Binders Full of Women Meme to Take Over the World

[6] Wired – Romney’s ‘Binders Full of Women’ Gaffe Sparks Instant Internet Meme

[7] NPR – Presidential Debate Spin Binders Full of Women Meme, Fact Checks

[8] The Atlantic – Binders Full of Women A Meme That Means Something

[9] CBS News – Binders full of women the big bird of the second debate

[10] Today.com – Binders Full of Women other Internet Memes Trump Voter Issues

[11] The Huffington Post – A Binder Full of Memes

[12] Time – Binders Full of Women – Ladies and Gentlemen, Your New Political Meme

[13] The Wall Street Journal – Binders Full of Women May Help One Woman Get a Job

[14] Salon – Mitts binders full of women not even true

[15] Reddit – Obama doesn't use binders

[16] Amazon – Search results for "binder"

[17] Buzzfeed – 9 Amazon Reviews of Binders For Women

[18] TIME – Amazon’s Binder Pages Flooded With Snarky Romney-Related Reviews

[19] The Daily Beast – Amazon Users Review Binders

[20] Yahoo! News- Sarcastic binder reviews a hit on Amazon

[21] CNET – Romney breathes new life into Amazon's binder reviews

[22] Gizmodo – Amazon’s Binder Pages Are Now Full of Funny Romney-Related Reviews

[23] Twitter – @TAnnRicci

[24] Talking Points Memo – Women Dressed As Binders Protest At Ohio GOP HQ (PHOTOS)

[25] Liberty News Network – First Came The Promise Keepers. Now The Trapper Keepers.

[26] Twitchy – It begins: Protesters already dressing as binders for some reason

[27] Twitter – @MaddowsBlog's tweet

[28] Facebook – Binders Full of Women

[29] Boston Phoenix – Mind The Binder

[30] The Washington Post – Massachusetts group responds to Mitt Romney on women appointees

[31] Huffington Post – Romney 'Binders Full Of Women' Female Hiring Boast Falls Apart

[32] Twitter – BinderCon

[33] Flavorwire – What BinderCon Means for Women, Power, and Media -- From Jill Abramson’s Divisive Keynote to the Push for Diversity

[34] Topsy – #BinderCon

[35] KickstarterOut of the Binders

[36] Bindercon.com – Out of the Binders

[37] Facebook – BinderCon

[38] Tumblr – #BinderCon

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