Marc Rudov, author of Under the Clitoral Hood: How to Crank Her Engine Without Cash, Booze, or Jumper Cables, said of the candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, “When Hillary Clinton speaks, men hear, 'Take out the garbage.' "

During Rudov’s appearance on a talk show, the superimposed text read: "Rudov: Clinton's 'nagging voice' is reason she lost male vote." 

And everyone laughed. How they laughed.

But not much laughing this week as the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, Donald Trump, suggested Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly asked him tough questions because she was having her periods. Trump was dumped from delivering a keynote address for Red State, an influential conservative group.

Trump has refused to apologise, saying only deviants would have imagined he was talking about Kelly's period. But the real interrogation here should not be about Trump’s craziness and his misogyny, which is well-documented.

It’s whether the climate has changed. Is it really no longer acceptable to smear and slur your opponents based on their gender? 

Sure, Red State conference organiser Erick Erickson said: "I think there is a line of decency that even a non-professional politician can cross. Suggesting that a female journalist asking you a hostile question is hormone-related, I think, is one of those lines.”

Megan MacKenzie is unconvinced. MacKenzie, a senior lecturer in government and international relations at the University of Sydney says that Erickson’s pushback is more about distancing Republicans from Trump.

“They have a vested interest in calling out sexism because they want to distance themselves from Trump,” she said.

But Anne Summers says she thinks the shift is on. And what happened to Hillary in 2008 may well be the reason.

Summers, whose classic text Damned Whores and God’s Police turns 40 this year, says she thinks political institutions would respond in the same way Red State did – and squeeze the perpetrator out.

“If there were similar remarks made in Australian politics today they would be slapped down by right wingers in a way which would not have happened a few years ago. At least I hope so.”

 And in Australia, conservative women have started to fight the same battles that their progressive sisters have – largely – won, such as the fight for equal representation.  

Summers says this is no longer just a talking point.

“Every list of Abbott’s failings includes the lack of women appointees to cabinet . . . it is now seen on his own side as a major failing.” 

And it’s that culture which Summers argues will change the way politicians talk about women.