The Fake Feminism of Sarah Palin

[saracat]

Great article.This needed to be said!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/28/AR2010052802263.html?sid=ST2010052804193

In a widely noted speech this month to the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion-rights group, Palin invoked the words "feminism" and "feminist" no less than a dozen times. She called for a "pro-woman sisterhood" and addressed the "sisters" in the audience. If it weren't for the regular references to gun rights, you might have thought you were listening to Gloria Steinem.

If this rhetoric seems uncharacteristic of the former governor of Alaska, that's because it is. When running for vice president in 2008, Palin flip-flopped on the feminist question, telling CBS's Katie Couric that she is one, but later telling NBC's Brian Williams, "I'm not going to label myself anything."

Today, however, Palin is happily adopting the feminist label. She's throwing support behind "mama grizzly" candidates, describing the large number of women in the "tea party" as evidence of a "mom awakening" and preaching girl power on her Facebook page.

It's not a realization of the importance of women's rights that's inspired the change. It's strategy. Palin's sisterly speechifying is part of a larger conservative move to woo women by appropriating feminist language. Just as consumer culture tries to sell "Girls Gone Wild"-style sexism as "empowerment," conservatives are trying to sell anti-women policies shrouded in pro-women rhetoric.

[saracat]

1. Bump for visability

[NC_Nurse]

2. Yep. It's pretty disturbing how the RW coopts other people's terms and turns

them upside down, rendering them meaningless or worse.

Empowered, my ass.x(

[Captain Hilts]

9. As the article states, people should be laughing at the stupidity of it, but aren't.

They feel compelled to take it seriously.

Have we ever heard people of color say, "I'm all for civil rights, I just don't believe in the voting rights act...." "I'm not for civil rights, BUT..." "The civil rights act assumes we're victims!"

Stuff like that sounds silly, doesn't it?

[Catshrink]

3. But Todd makes all her decisions

and hovered over her while she was governor.

[iris27]

4. Just like the "Feminists for Life" group that does anti-choice activism but

puts NO resources into support for young, poor mothers...they are straight-up anti-feminist.

ETA: It really burns my ass that Palin, who cut funding for an Anchorage shelter for teen moms while governor, is trying to co-opt and subvert this label.

[femrap]

5. I am going to

puke. Palin is the Anti-Feminist!

[Diamonique]

6. To quote Olbermann: "That woman is an idiot."

[opihimoimoi]

7. This one is beyond plain Idiocy...Palin is a Phoney Idiot of the worse kind..that of attaining power

[Captain Hilts]

8. This is an EXCELLENT article. I bought the WP for the first time in months today.

Too bad there's a huge, horrible editorial blaming unions for Montgomery County's problems.

[yowzayowzayowza]

10. K&R

Thx!!

[laughingliberal]

11. K & R nt

[lunatica]

12. Sorry, this feminist ain't buying it

period

[OnionPatch]

13. Isn't it disgusting the way conservatives ride on liberal reform?

If it were up to conservatives, women would still be barefoot and pregnant and definitely NOT speaking in public and running for offices.

They demonize us, then twenty years later, they're practicing our values as if they were their own the whole time. And never an apology, either.

[Dawson Leery]

14. Sarah Palin is the anti-feminist.

[Maru Kitteh]

15. K & R

[Orsino]

16. Assuaging the (admittedly minimal) guilt of the Republican Penis Cult.

"Look! The pretty lady on the poster proves that women have equal rights!"

[freddie mertz]

17. K & R. That woman is a global embarrassment. Sheesh.

[jmondine]

18. Sarah Palin proves that women can succeed...

...by the accidental genetic lottery of "beauty pageant looks", by schmoozing and backstabbing your way to positions you are utterly unqualified for, and by sucking up to the patriarchal, femiphobic hysteria of all the men around you.

She is a living insult to feminists the world over.

[seabeyond]

19. She is a living insult to feminists the world over..... right on, brother. nt

[saracat]

23. Right on! Well said.

[ismnotwasm]

20. God, Palin is an asshole

She an opportunist, not a feminist. I didn't realize she was using the term to describe herself or her policies. I see her as this; She stands on the back of feminists and other activists who give their very lives for equality and freedom from oppression world wide, with her pointy high heels and does a politicians wave while the blood pools around her feet, oblivious. No, not oblivious, she just doesn't give a shit.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

21. "I'm not going to label myself anything." Then allow me.

You are a Walking Setback.

[missbleedingheart]

22. Sarah Palin's What Al Franken Calls a "Lying Liar"

Palin's rhetoric is despicable because it's so dishonest at its core. The right wing co-opts and distorts our most cherished messages hoping to confuse the public.

Al Franken -- whom I LOVE -- talks about this tactic in his book Lying Liars and the Lies They Tell.


Al Franken for senate?

“Unlikely!”

Then he ran —

Like a rabbit in Nikes.

When the counting

Was done,

And he finally won,

He said, “Doggone it,

People DO like me!”

***
Al Franken’s a brave

Minnesotan

Whose SNL satire’s

Worth quotin’,

But he set

His sights higher,

Exposed Lying Liars,

And Democrats

Thanked him by votin’.

***
After countless

Recounts,

Minnesotans announced

Their new senator:

Mr. Al Franken.

It’s almost as great as

November ’08

When Barack gave

McCain such a spankin’.

Read more of my Liberal Limericks at www.missbleedingheart.com