Joseph Epstein Called Dr. Jill Biden ‘Kiddo’ — A Look At How Misogyny Can Affect Mental Health

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“That woman deserves her revenge,” Michael Madsen’s character famously said about protagonist Beatrix Kiddo in the Feminism action film Kill Bill Volume II.

In a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed on Friday titled, “Is There a Doctor in the White House? Not if You Need an M.D.”, writer Joseph Epstein, 83, penned an informal cease-and-desist letter to First Lady-elect, Dr. Jill Biden, demanding that she stop using her earned doctorate title. The reason? Dr. Biden is not an M.D., and therefore she should not feel an entitlement to her title, despite completing a dissertation. Supporters of Dr. Biden were quick to point out that Mr. Epstein is neither an M.D., nor a Ph.D. Others questioned whether or not he was related to the convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein — he is not.

After calling First Lady-elect Biden, “kiddo”, the octogenarian writer also cited an argument that Dr. Biden should not use her earned doctorate title because “Dr.” should be reserved only for those who have delivered a child. What may come as a great shock to Mr. Epstein is that Dr. Biden has, in fact, delivered a child.

“Kiddo” quickly became a trending topic on Twitter Saturday afternoon, and many users online began drawing comparisons to the fictional feminist hero Beatrix Kiddo, played by Uma Thurman. While Thurman’s tales of production during Kill Bill are plagued by the actress’s own experiences of misogyny, her portrayal and character’s will for revenge are largely celebrated by women empowered by the ruthless and metaphoric on-screen journey.

The outrage over the 83-year-old’s opinion piece stretched across genders, political parties, and degree-holders. Ph.D.’s and medical doctors across Twitter demanded retractions and surrounded Dr. Biden’s defense with their own stories of misogyny in academia. Even the dictionary had a few choice words for Mr. Epstein, tweeting out about the Latin origins of the word, “doctor”. Throughout his Op-Ed, Epstein waxes on about his feelings towards honorary degrees — which Dr. Biden’s is not.

But misogyny as it was accepted in past decades is not only publicly offensive now, it has recently been linked to poor mental health in those engaging in it. While many effects of sexism and gender aggressions on women’s mental health have been studied and reported on, men’s mental health as it relates to sexism has only recently gained attention. In 2016, Y. Joel Wong, PhD of Indiana University Bloomington, published a study in the Journal of Counseling Psychology about the effects of sexism on men’s mental health. “In general, individuals who conformed strongly to masculine norms tended to have poorer mental health and less favorable attitudes toward seeking psychological help, although the results differed depending on specific types of masculine norms,” wrote Dr. Wong.

As of Saturday afternoon, the expression, “The doctor will see you now”, also began trending.