Fauxminism
Sarah Palin, Noted Fauxminist
There’s a whole lot of whatnot and hullabaloo flying around about Sarah Palin. She’s a supermom. She managed a meteoric rise to power while raising five kids, snowmobiling the tundra and terrorizing the local moose population. She went back to work three days after giving birth. She’s got awesome optical accessories.
In the rush to enumerate her accomplishments, women are losing sight of the fact that Sarah Palin is not a feminist. She is a token woman, a ploy to simultaneously appease disgruntled Hillary supporters and the reluctant religious right. John McCain needed some feminist street cred; Sarah Palin was the solution.
Women, especially liberal women, who support Palin solely on the basis of shared genitalia are undermining feminist causes and playing right into McCain’s hands. I’m talking to you, PUMAs.
Feminists believe in equal pay for equal work. Feminists believe in a woman’s right to control her own body and make her own reproductive choices (Feminists for Life is a contradiction in terms). In a Palin America, a woman who is raped and impregnated would be forced to carry that rapist’s fetus to term. In a Palin America, teenage girls (and boys) remain blissfully ignorant when it comes to contraception.
Not to mention, liberal ladies, that Palin’s platform of issues is textbook scary conservative. Pro gun. Pro death penalty. Pro creationism in schools. Anti gay marriage. Anti environment. (Seriously, who still believes global warming isn’t our species’ fault?) Pro oil drilling. Pro gunning down wolves with helicopters. She attends a pentecostal church (although she now conveniently labels herself as “non-denominational”). She supported the bridge to nowhere back when it was politically convenient. Oh, and she doesn’t concern herself with things like the war in Iraq–not with so many square miles of tundra to govern.
Sarah Palin’s candidacy is a false milestone. It undermines the feminist movement to support a candidate who touts feminism while advocating the rollback of much of what the movement has achieved in the last 50 years. It’s a shame that her personal life is making news, because it distracts from what we should be talking about: Palin’s faux feminist beliefs and sheer inadequacy for the job.
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September 2nd, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Not to mention that it’s not that revolutionary to have a woman in a supportive role to a man (leader, McCain; secondary leader, Palin).
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Haven’t we grown past faux-revolutionary, 1960’s-style ideals? To most of the country, and to a good part of the world, women in leadership is not an issue. Ever hear of Una Merckel? Margaret Thatcher? Indira Ghandi? Golda Meir? Palin is a strong woman and will pull a lot of votes for McCain for that reason. Where were the feminists during the Clinton-Lewinski years? Or is it a case of support only for the women who share our ideals?
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Sarah Palin’s candidacy is an absolute insult to all the genuinely qualified female candidates McCain could have chosen. But even if she were qualified, supporting a woman who undermines women’s issues is NOT progressive. I don’t care how strong she is.
September 10th, 2008 at 8:37 am
I’ll agree with your point that women in leadership is not as big an issue as it once was, Steve, but this portion of your statement has me confused. “Or is it a case of support only for the women who share our ideals?” Since when is politics NOT about supporting people who share your ideals? I mean, people who believe that religion should be applied to government support politicians who do also. People who believe the environment needs stronger protection do likewise. All we’re trying to do here is point out to some women the discrepancy between their ideals and the candidate they are mistakenly supporting.