"I want to punch Hillary the person in the face"

I don't think I've ever said this before, and I actually don't have an intense urge to punch Hillary in the face, but I sort of instinctively disagree with part of this opinion. Actually, I agree you cannot divorce Hillary from her womanhood, but I don't think saying you want to punch Hillary in the face is actually carrying the baggage Melissa seems to think it implies. I want to punch Bush in the face as well. In fact, there is a whole meme of "in the face." Like "I want to shoot you in the face", "I want to stab myself in the face", etc.

"In the face" is just sort of the throwaway, slightly comical additive to a statement. And to say you want to punch Hillary in the face basically just means you want to punch her and she sucks. Cause she kind of does. Melissa says:

It's something of which I must be conscious, too—I am reluctant to use violent imagery generally, but extremely averse to using it when discussing women I don't like. Despite the distinct unlikelihood that anyone would mistake misogyny as my motivation, even a (metaphorical) attack within a culture in which women—particularly strong, opinionated women—have historically been silenced with threatened or actual violence borrows and legitimizes misogynist strategies. I don't have to like Hillary Clinton's voice (although, for the record, I do), or her policies or her sense of humor or her decision to stay in the race, and neither does anyone else—but, regardless of intent, the public declaration of a desire to punch her in response summons an ugly history of physically silencing uppity women. And, no, a threat to punch a man doesn't work quite the same way—care of the double standard brought to you daily by the patriarchy.

Yes, it does bring up some history of uppity women being put in their place if you automatically relate FEMALE + VIOLENT THOUGHT = PATRIARCHY! But it's also a general reaction of people who conceive of being powerless to a negative force. I want to punch Bush because I feel powerless to stop him. When I hear his voice, I know that he is there, beyond my control, and it enrages me. I want to punch him to shut him up and make him stop.

I can easily see how this parallels people who want to punch Hillary in the face. She at this points represents negativity and a power the we cannot seem to stop against Obama. To claim that this somehow invokes a history of violence to women, well I disagree. If anything invokes a history of people being powerless against their leaders and acting out against them in one of the few ways they can which includes humorous language and statements like "I want to punch them in the face."