Awaiting the "Gender" speech... keep waiting.

Jewel Woods offers a really good commentary on the difficulty of a national gender dialogue.

Many commentators within the black community argued that it was “inevitable” that Senator Obama would have to give a speech on “race”. Not only in light of the comments by Rev. Wright, but also because of pressure within the black community by opinion-framers like Tavis Smiley to have him address issues like Katrina, unemployment, education, incarceration, and other issues that have disproportionately impacted Black America in the past, and continue to impact Black America in the present.

However, was it ever “inevitable” that Senator Clinton would have to give a speech on gender? And is it inevitable now that Senator Clinton will respond to the comments of her surrogates or the demands within the women's/feminist movement that insist she talk about issues of gender the way that constituents within the black community have consistently called for Senator Obama to address issues of race?

Woods, who recently authored Don't Blame Rio, is the founder and Executive Director of the Renaissance Male Project is an emergent voice on masculinty, gender, and race. Catch his star as it rises.