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Rebecca Traister, author of Big Girls Don't Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women, wonders whether the SlutWalk movement is a step forward or backward for women.

Earlier this week, we spoke to Gail Sheehy of The Daily Beast about what she and Maureen Dowd have labelled the "mean girls" in this election — Republicans like Linda McMahon, Sharron Angle, and the "Mama Grizzly" herself, Sarah Palin. But is that term fair? Or does it just show that the political, mud-slinging political playing field has been leveled?

Betsy Reed, executive editor of The Nation and co-editor of Going Rouge: Sarah Palin – An American Nightmare, and Rebecca Traister, senior writer for Salon and author of the new book Big Girls Don't Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women, talk about women and the midterm elections.

Rebecca Traister, who covered the 2008 presidential election for Salon, explains how it was transformative for American women and for the nation. In Big Girls Don’t Cry: The Election that Changed Everything for American Women, she looks at the ways the campaign sparked some of the most difficult American conversations—on gender, race, generational difference, about sexism on the left and feminism on the right: discussions crucial to improving our nation.

Read "The Momification of Michelle Obama" at Salon.com »

"Michelle Obama was a particularly threatening figure within a world that has traditionally been about white male power."
-- Rebecca Traister

After a long and sometimes bitter primary season, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are making their first joint campaign appearance in the general election today. Despite the symbolic choice of venue -- Unity, NH -- the party still has healing ahead. Joining us to review the campaign appearance are Josh ...