Your Boyfriend Loves Barack Obama So Much It Hurts

Barack Obama has hoped his way into millions of young hearts this year, but as Salon's Rebecca Traister reports, young women are starting to wonder what's really behind their boyfriends' fanatical devotion to the Illinois senator…

[S]ome female voters have begun to express nearly as much disenchantment with the Obama-mania of their peers as with their Clinton-promoting mothers. And even while they voice dismay over the retro tone of the pro-Clinton feminist whine, a growing number of young women are struggling to describe a gut conviction that there is something dark and funky, and probably not so female-friendly, running below the frantic fanaticism of their Obama-loving compatriots.

Maybe guys are just, you know, turned on by Barack Obama. (He is handsome!) And aside from pro sports, how often do straight American men get a chance to declare public crushes on other males? Surely there's nothing more sinister at work here…

I received e-mails and phone calls from women voicing various strains of frustration: They told me about the sexism they felt coming from their brothers and husbands and friends and boyfriends; some described the suspicion that their politically progressive partners were actually uncomfortable with powerful women. Others had to find ways to call me out of earshot of their Obama-loving boyfriends.

Jesus. Really? What would those boyfriends do if they caught their girlfriends talking to a reporter about this? You can't tell me violence is a symptom of Obamaism…

One of my closest girlfriends, an Obama voter, told me of a drink she'd had with a politically progressive man who made a series of legitimate complaints about Clinton's policies before adding that when he hears the senator's voice, he's overcome by an urge to punch her in the face.

Okay, so in addition to being in love with another man, your boyfriend may have barely-suppressed urges to commit assault, and if he catches you talking politics on the phone without his permission you will probably regret it. Is there anything else you should know?

Maggie Merrill, a 31-year-old graduate student in urban studies at the University of New Orleans who works part time at New Orleans City Hall, is a Clinton supporter who told me that she will happily vote for Obama in the general election. But, she said, "There is this Obama-mania, where these young men get glassy eyes and start spitting out vague things about how Barack Obama is going to save humanity. Really, have you seen their eyes? It's this faraway look. It's scary."

Yes. Your boyfriend may also be the living dead. I hear Obama's been polling well amongst zombies.

Well, male zombies.