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Palin's Supporters and Zombie Feminism
The excellent Rebecca Traister, who writes about gender politics for Salon, is totally on-point about what Sarah Palin means for women and for feminism. Here's a sampling:
The pro-woman rhetoric surrounding Sarah Palin's nomination is a grotesque bastardization of everything feminism has stood for, and in my mind, more than any of the intergenerational pro- or anti-Hillary crap that people wrung their hands over during the primaries, Palin's candidacy and the faux-feminism in which it has been wrapped are the first development that I fear will actually imperil feminism. Because if adopted as a narrative by this nation and its women, it could not only subvert but erase the meaning of what real progress for women means, what real gender bias consists of, what real discrimination looks like.
Hey People,
I think what the supposed "True" feminists are afraid of is that the lesibians will NOT be setting the adgenda for feminism anymore..:-)
This is the reason that the young women of today don't really think that much of femanism. I have daughters and they have told me MANY times that if it were not for the lesbian bend of femanism, more young women would be in favor of the label, instead of running from it like a young girl, who is running from a learing old, ugly lesbian, with comfy shoes...!!!
BIll
Zombie feminism is probably a good term. As a man, I have given up caring about women's issues, and I am fairly critical of women as a group. Abortion is a central issue for women's identity and status in society. Who makes the moral decision about abortion: the government or the woman? That women are so ambivalent that even at this late date they can form no broad consensus on this issue is mystifying.
JG
JG,
If you bear in mind that religion and conservative husbands are in the mix you may not be so mystified; after all, religion stops a thinking mind and many women prefer to remain with their spouses instead of speaking their mind.
dan:
Yeah, I can always accept that a minority of women (as men) will be dominated by religion and the patriarchy.
But the issue of abortion is so central and women as a group so ambivalent that I am left bewildered.
Look at Palin. "My daughter is pregnant. It is my view that the government should decide her future..." I mean, how can anyone think that way?
My only recourse is to believe that "women are nuts". It's mere coincidence that my personal experiences with women confirm that hypothesis.....
I read through the article and then followed the links to the article from May 2000 that discussed the then gov of Alaska signing the bill to prevent victims from having to pay for their rape kits. That original article never mentions Pallin's name, just her police chief. From that article it seems people are inferring that was Pallin's dictate. Is there hard evidence that it was Pallin who initiated that rule (personally don't care as I will be voting for Nader).
Reading the Salon article reminded me why I stopped reading Salon (except for Greenwald's blog). Before I start, I have to say that Donny Deutch sounds like an ass. Anyway, I always thought feminism was about choice. A woman has the inherent right to be whatever she wants to be, just as a man. For someone to think that a woman should believe in certain things because she is a woman is analagous to thinking a black person should agree with everything Jesse Jackson says because of a shared higher concentration in melanin. This is America, where every man, woman, and tranny can believe whatever they want. Just look at bill nigh's periodic stereotypically conservative redneck posts.
Jay, I agree with you regarding feminism and civil rights for that matter being about the freedom of choice. We get so drawn into these left/right extremes that we forget most of us live somewhere in the middle.
Just curious: How can you vote for Nader, is his VP pick still the county supervisor from San Francisco? I considered Nader, but I felt that was just poor judgement or desparation.
It's no wonder Traister's having nightmares about Palin. Not that Palin is a benign figure, but Traister has bought into several of the false or distorted demonizations that have been circulating (and were debunked by FactCheck.org quite a few days ago):
"limit...funding for places like Covenant House Alaska"
She tripled the funding for Covenant House Alaska.
"supports the teaching of creationism alongside evolution"
She supports allowing kids to discuss creationism in class, not having it taught alongside evolution.
"inquired locally about the possibility of using her position to ban children's books from the public library"
But she never did so (not clear what Traister means by "inquired locally about using her position to ban"--she asked the librarian how she would respond if asked to remove some books).
"does not support the teaching of sex education"
She's in favor of teaching contraception in schools.
That she inquired about
That she inquired about books she wished to have banned is pretty well documented and that librarian quit and ran from Wasila and is too frightened to make public comment now. She is absolutely NOT in favor of teaching contraception and supports abstinence only, a topic that Bristol, the unmarried mother of her grandchild, recently spoke about publically. She has been a very aggressive line item veto-er of human services in Alaska including funds for unwed mothers and children with disabilties (yes, while she was pregnant with a DFown's Syndrome baby). And there is that horrible shooting of wolves from planes that she supports. Sportsmanship? Oh, you get some $$ for every right front paw you bring in.
She is not in favor teaching contraception in school
Palin is an interestingly
Palin is an interestingly anti-woman woman. She vetoed expanding funds for unwed mothers in her state and is opposed to birth control education in high schools despite her obvious failure in her own family. While Mayor of Wasila, she would not approve funds for rape kist and the women of Wasila were forced to pay for their own rape kits, although the kits for other crimes such as burglary were funded. She is not particularly supportive of human services in general. an area that you expect woman to have the greatest sensitivity toward. And there is that odd thing where she would not tell her own children that her youngest was a Down's syndrome child until they observed it for themselves. Zombie, indeed.