International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation Volume 9, Issue 2 2026 20
feminism and the changes it wrought made many of the
opportunities that Clinton has enjoyed possible, as it
challenged the prior societal narrative of women being
unfit for public life. As we discuss, Clinton epitomizes
the promise of the second wave indeed, she exceeds its
expectations by achieving the type of political stature
only a very few individuals acquire—irrespective
of their sex and gender.4
1
Hence, the significance of
Clinton’s accomplishments cannot be overstated.
Extreme scrutiny and criticism have followed Clinton’s
success such that every detail of what she does and who
she is has been subject to discussion, analysis, disdain,
attack, conspiracy theorizing, and outright misogyny.
Although Clinton has been the target of vicious attacks
for much of her adult life (Brisini, 2019 Bordo, 2016
D’Antonio, 2020 Hitt, 2007 and Vasby Anderson,
1999)—and primarily for being a goal oriented,
successful, and powerful woman—such attacks took
on new heights of vitriol and absurdity during her
campaign for leader of the Democratic party in 2007
and her subsequent run for the presidency in 2016.
In this article, we propose that Clinton has been
the subject of substantial bias, discrimination, and
conspiracy theories that characterize her as something
she is not: an evil, demonic, deceptive, Satan-
worshipping child predator witch who has her enemies
murdered in order to silence them. An examination of
key conspiratorial narratives illuminates the central
problems and anxieties that Clinton has posed to
4 The Third Wave of feminism emerged in the 1990s. Although part of
its mandate was to build upon the work of second wave feminism, it sought
also to expand the category of feminism itself. Consequently, the third wave
adopted an intersectional (Crenshaw, 1991) approach that addressed the
omission of women of colour from dominant feminist discourse (Murdocca,
2017). Hence, scholars including Kimberle Crenshaw, bell hooks, (Gloria
Jean Watkins) and Patricia Hill Collins addressed the evident omissions of
second wave feminists. Other feminist scholars discussed questions of beauty
standards, sexual objectification, sexuality, gender, and gender identity.
This new generation of thinkers and activists encouraged girls and women
to understand their strengths, their potential, and their ability as individual
agents to occupy and succeed in positions of power (Tornblom, 2006
Szymanski, Moffitt, &Carr, 2011 Klein, 1990).
In 2012, the fourth wave of feminism emerged. This wave drew
attention not only to the ongoing sexualization of women, but also to sexual
violence, sexism and misogyny. Furthermore, this wave more robustly
addressed the challenges that LBGTQ+ persons face. Online and in person
activism combine during this wave.
Feminism, more broadly, seeks to establish equality for all persons
(Haradan, 2022). In this article, we incorporate the insights of several
feminists (for example, Susan Bordo and Lorna Bracewell), but we do not
identify with one feminist tradition, instead taking a holistic approach that
values the core goals and progress made across every stage of feminism.
Bordo, for example, emerged during the second wave, remained prominent
during the third, and continues to transcend strict categorization in terms of
‘wave’ and subtypes of feminism (e.g. liberal, Marxist etc.)
key conspiratorial narratives illuminates the central
problems and anxieties that Clinton has posed to
the normative, largely masculine, political order.
By focusing on the Clinton Body Count, Pizzagate,
Andrenochrome, Kuru, Frazzledrip conspiracy
theories, and other conspiratorial narratives that
emerged from QAnon and other sources, we suggest
that a clear pattern emerges—one that demonstrates
that Clinton has been subjected to a modern-day
witch-hunt and can be theorized accordingly. Bringing
together contemporary witch-hunt criteria (Wood,
Nathan, Beck, &Hampton, 2017) and scholarship on
conspiracy theories and gender, we argue that Clinton’s
successes and goals as a self-identifying feminist
woman made her a target of conservative and populist
conspiracy theories. Clinton is symbolic of the ongoing
culture wars in the United States between religio-
conservative factions and those who support women’s
autonomy and inclusion in leadership roles in secular
public life.
We continue our introduction here with a brief
overview of Clinton’s education, advocacy work, and
professional accomplishments. Suffice it to say, the
totality of these accomplishments in addition to her
activism and tireless work in support of marginalized
communities is far too great to acknowledge fully in
this article.5
1
Once she completed her undergraduate degree in
political science at Wellesley College6 Clinton attended
Yale Law School (graduating in 1973), where she met
her future husband (Bordo, 2017 D’Antonio, 2020
Patrick, 2016). After graduating from Yale, Clinton
worked as an accomplished attorney. Then she
5 In the following segment—and throughout this article—we focus on,
and make reference to, many of Clinton’s achievements. Moreover, we address
some of the obstacles that she has had to overcome as a woman in politics.
This focus and recognition of Clinton’s numerous accomplishments does not
mean to suggest that Clinton is infallible and without missteps in her career.
Rather, our vigorous support for and emphasis on her achievements serves
as a counter to the constant, vitriolic, and at times, quite disgusting attacks
that she has endured (and continues to endure), —often at the hands of those
who lack her cumulative skills, education, experience, and professionalism.
Hence, this unabashed discussion and defense of Clinton examines what has
been a remarkable career for any person, irrespective of sex and gender, but
is especially impressive given what she has had to endure specifically because
she is a woman.
6 Pauline and Henry Fowle Durant established Wellesley College in
1870 to offer women the opportunity to study at the highest level. A highly
regarded liberal arts college, the institution remains a private, for women—
including people who identify as women—institution of higher learning
(Wellesley College, 2025a). In April 2024, Wellesley opened the Hillary
Rodham Clinton Centre for Citizenship, Leadership and Democracy
(Wellesley College, 2025b).

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Susan Raine, Kilian LaBonte-bon |Witch Hunts and Gendered Politics
served twelve non-consecutive years as First Lady of
Arkansas and eight years as First Lady of the United
States (Zulli, 2018). Additionally, she served as a
senator for New York State from 2000 to 2009 she
was appointed Secretary of State under the Obama
Administration from 2009 to 2013 and she received
the Democratic Presidential Nomination for the 2016
election (Bordo, 2017 U.S. State Department, n.d.
Patrick, 2016 Zulli, 2018). Her public career has also
included success in publishing: Clinton has authored
and co-authored several best-selling books in a wide
range of genres, including children’s welfare, memoir,
political analysis and commentary, policy advocacy,
women’s empowerment, and fiction. She has also been
the subject of numerous books, news and magazine
articles, and scholarly works (Zulli, 2019), and both
traditional and new media have extensively covered
Clinton.
As First Lady of the United States, Clinton was
instrumental in creating legislation to reform children’s
healthcare and often championed children’s and
women’s causes (D’Antonio, 2020 Patrick, 2016).
In 1995, she traveled to Beijing for the fourth U.N.
Conference on Women, proclaiming “women’s rights
are human rights” (Clinton, 1995, p. 5 Donert, 2023,
p. 2). Clinton has made history many times, including
being the first First Lady to enter the White House
with a law degree and the first to serve in the Senate
(occupying the roles concurrently for a brief period).
Also, she is the first woman to receive a major American
political party’s presidential nomination, going on
to win the popular vote in 2016 but ultimately losing
the Electoral College to Republican candidate Donald
Trump (Bordo, 2017 D’Antonio, 2020 U.S. State
Department, n.d.).
Prior to Clinton’s independent political career, Bill
Clinton, while campaigning for the 1992 election,
remarked that by electing him to the White House,
Americans would have dual presidents (Cornwall,
1994 Kornblut &MacGillis, 2007), suggesting that
Hillary Clinton would take on a more significant role
as First Lady than her predecessors. Clinton advocated
for healthcare reform in the United States (D’Antonio,
2020 Hitt, 2007). In this regard and others, Clinton
was and remains a second-wave feminist success
story: an ambitious woman who achieved a high-
status vocation in contrast to most of the First Ladies
who served before her.7The
1
tension, however, between
what the American public had come to expect of the
First Lady and who Clinton was made her a polarizing
figure, foreshadowing subsequent and more extreme
divisions.
Clinton has been the subject of numerous conspiracy
theories, scandals, and investigations throughout her
decades-long legal and political career, dating back to
Bill Clinton’s 1977 appointment as Attorney General of
Arkansas. As the Clintons’ national visibility increased,
so too did the incidence of conspiracy theorizing about
the couple—much of it emerging from the Republican
right (D’Antonio, 2020 Gatehouse, 2022 Brisini,
2019). As Clinton became more successful within the
American political establishment, some sectors of the
public became more distrustful of her. Conversely, a
strong sector of the population admired Clinton for
her achievements and dedication (D’Antonio, 2020).
Still, the detractors were persistent. In January 1998,
reflecting on the fallout of the Monica Lewinsky and
Bill Clinton affair, Clinton remarked in a speech that a
“vast right-wing conspiracy” was plaguing the Clinton
Administration8 (Kurtz, 1998).
Hence, despite Clinton’s sixty-seven percent approval
rating and designation as America’s most admired
woman by the late 1990s, the minority who disapproved
of her would be rallied by the political right to apply
their feelings about her to the Democratic Party
generally—all at a time when the politics of hatred
and “negative political attacks” were becoming a more
popular tool (D’Antonio, 2020, p. 79). The resolve
of this small, largely Republican—and often very
conservatively religious—group to eradicate Clinton
from the American political milieu further intensified,
laying the foundation for an expansion into a larger
and more intense public fixation on Clinton a decade
later.
7 Some other first ladies were politically active. For example, Eleanor
Roosevelt (1884–1962), wife of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–
1945) actively pursued causes that were important to her, including civil
rights, women’s rights, and a variety of humanitarian issues. She traveled
throughout the United States to witness social issues firsthand and would
then report what she had observed to her husband. She had been engaged
with social justice and political concerns prior to, during, and after her role
as First Lady (National Archives, 2025).
8 Clinton was referencing a 332-page report compiled by political
consultant, Chris Lehane, titled, “Communication Stream of Conspiracy
Commerce.” The document outlines the way in which narratives are
circulated in ideological circles (typically right-wing), are subsequently
picked up by British tabloid media, and then are discussed in right-wing and
Republican media circles in the United States (Garofoli, 2004 Kurtz, 1998).