It’s not sexism making young women flee Hillary Clinton—it’s simply that she doesn’t represent us.

It’s not anti-woman to oppose Hillary Clinton. There’s rhetoric circling this election season that women who don’t support Hillary don’t support women. Or that they’re making their political choices in the interests of attracting men.

I’m part of the demographic that should poll well with Clinton. I’m a woman. I’m lower middle class. I grew up lower middle class, and my family has plenty of union ties. Many of my relatives are proudly blue-collar. I’m not a college graduate. Further, I’m a millennial.

Yet I don’t support Clinton.

Is it a rejection of all of the progress women have made to not vote for a woman running for the highest office in our land? Should the sisterhood of all women dictate that when one of us steps up, the rest need to fall in line and support her?

Examine Hillary Clinton on Her Merits, Not Her Body Parts

Instead of touchy-feely pieces about how women ought to lean in, we should examine Clinton on her merits. On all of them, not just the fact that she’s a woman.

She lies, repeatedly, and for her own benefit.

My distrust and dislike of Clinton have really nothing to do with the fact that she’s female. I’d dislike her policy ideas and plans just as much if a man was putting them forth. I don’t trust her, and it’s not because I have some deep-seated idea that it’d be more appropriate for her to spend her time in a kitchen somewhere, baking bread and arranging flowers. It’s because she lies, repeatedly, and for her own benefit.

I like politics. I wouldn’t write about them if I didn’t. The policies and ideas our elected (and appointed) officials put forth shape life for all of us.

Insisting the vote go to one candidate because of some shared anatomy is frankly demeaning. Policy and tough decisions aren’t and shouldn’t be decided by body parts but by the best qualified candidate.

Respect Women’s Capability to Choose

Feminism tells us, at its most basic level, that women are equal to men. It says we are smart, we are capable, and we shouldn’t be limited by arbitrary gender roles. Voting for someone based upon her gender runs wildly counter to this. Blindly supporting the candidacy of someone, despite how her ideals fit our own (or do not), does not increase the worth of women. It decreases it.

Women fought for the vote to make their own choices, based on their understanding of the issues and the possible solutions.

Asking women to support Clinton because she’s a woman treats all women like they are stupid. Women fought for the vote to make their own choices, based on their understanding of the issues and the possible solutions. They wanted input in who would govern them. Guilting women with claims we need to vote for someone for no reason other than her womanhood spits on these hard-fought rights.

Vote for the person who best represents you, your hopes for our country, and the needs of your family. Vote for the person who has plans and ideas that mesh with yours, not who shares your underwear content.

It’s not sexism making young women flee Clinton—it’s simply that she doesn’t represent us. She’s out of touch with what the reality of womanhood in this country really is. Hillary Clinton is so far removed from the average woman that she doesn’t speak for us, with us, or even about us.