This Slate article (from the XX Factor section) begins:
Sarah Palin calls herself a "hockey mom" and "as pro-life as any candidate can be" -- but not, as far as we know, a feminist. And why would she? Feminist has long been a dirty word for conservatives, and so it's not their label for her, even though it describes Sarah Palin to a T in so many ways: the working mother/ crusader/ political activist. Margaret Thatcher didn't use the "f" word either.
I should note that the Anchorage Daily News reported in August 2006, when Palin was running for Governor, that "[Palin] is pro-contraception and said she's a member of a pro-woman but anti-abortion group called Feminists for Life." So it seems that she does call herself a feminist (and rightly so, in my view).
The Vice-Presidential candidate is usually the "attack dog" during the campaign.
Note how when Biden is the "attack dog" the press says: well that's his role.
But note how when Palin goes after Obama the partisans at MSNBC and CNN call her "snide" and "sarcastic." The press is so in-the-tank for the Dems that they never realize the inconsistent standards they apply again and again.
I don't suppose you're going to cite some history or theory on that are you?
(hahaha, of course you're not.)
I consider myself a feminist. I have daughters. Gov. Palin's acceptance speech brought tears to my eyes, because of what it means for my daughters. My hopes and aspirations for the are every bit as fierce and wide-ranging as my hopes and aspirations for my sons.
Theory? Have you taken any women's political theory classes at all in college? It's a man-hating, abortion-loving, deconstruction-fest.
My opinion is that the only people who use the term "feminist" that are absent any qualifiers are ugly women and beta men who can't get laid. There, I said it.
Raised taxes on oil companies and redistributed the profits to the people of her state?
She's for teenage weddings, but against funding support services for poor teens who want to carry their baby to term.
DangerMouse is a troll.
The podium tonight was dripping with condescension and sarcasm. They can't win with respect, so they won't try. Really puts the U in USA.
I can't believe she repeated the bridge to nowhere lie. A big fat whopper of a lie, served up twice in a week.
ah, I can see some of us came armed with our DNC talking points!
Whatever its origins and past uses, the word has no generally agreed upon meaning. It is an inherently tendentious label, there to be used or abused by anyone who cares to do so. And there are many, especially by those looking for votes in November.
You caught me:
So EIDE_Interface, have you always been an economic populist that believes in windfall profit taxes?
Would Phil Gramm be the person to ask what "feminists" whine about, or is he expert only on what amounts to economic whining? Does his wife count as a "feminist"? How about Libby Dole or Kay Bailey Hutchins?
A reduction of a six-fold increase to a five-fold increase is against funding? You do know you're on a libertarian blog, correct?
"I can't believe she repeated the bridge to nowhere lie. A big fat whopper of a lie, served up twice in a week."
Palin lied, the Bridge to Nowhere died! Don't you have a paper mache puppet to carry in a parade somewhere? Once Palin actually took office, after the campaign, she axed the bridge. Got any other state pols who would even consider that?
Speaking of trolls...
UnFortunately, very few feminists fit the definition of a lady."Houston, fixed it for you...
note: I kind of sympathize with her position. I am pro-choice and she is pro-life and I am pro premarital sex... however... I don't think it is the PUBLIC SCHOOLS place to take over this role from parents, to teach about contraception. Since school is mandatory and all. At least if we had vouchers, I might be more willing to be pro teaching of contraception in school.
from wikipedia...
Hoff Sommers describes Equity feminism as an ideology that aims for full civil and legal equality and distinguish it from the term gender feminism, which she uses to describe the idea of much of modern academic feminist theory and the feminist movement which aims at the total abolition of gender roles and structure of the society which they claim is still dominated by patriarchal structures. Hoff Sommers considers this as gynocentrism and misandry that she feels is dominant in the contemporary feminist movement. Christina Hoff Sommers argues, "Most American women subscribe philosophically to the older 'First Wave' kind of feminism whose main goal is equity, especially in politics and education".[1] Although she realizes that her views are not mainstream in academia or the feminist movement in general, she considers them mainstream among the US population of women [1]
Feminists who Steven Pinker identifies with equity feminism include Jean Bethke Elshtain, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, Noretta Koertge, Donna Laframboise, Mary Lefkowitz, Wendy McElroy, Camille Paglia, Daphne Patai, Virginia Postrel, Alice Rossi, Sally Satel, Nadine Strossen, Joan Kennedy Taylor, and Cathy Young.[2]
Unless you think feminist is a synonym for "liberal" (see: Bill Clinton; one free grope; etc.) there's no way to deny her feminist bona fides.
Palin is tough AND beguiling. And it's "amazing to watch her be both at the same time."
Perfect.
She axed the bridge, and KEPT THE FEDERAL MONEY. That's a reformer with results!
The fact that Alaska is the biggest leech in the 50 states (thanks Uncle Ted!) will become well known to voters over the next month. While running for election Gov. Palin played directly to the uniquely Alaskan sentiment that they deserve the tax dollars of other states because they are such rugged individualists.
What do I know? Obviously I'm not an American if I went to college and can't skin a moose properly.
They're pretty close to 50/50 on whether feminist means "equal rights for all" and "pro-0abortion is a litmus test".
If you've been raised in Scarsdale, UWS, UES, Berkley, or Beverley Hills, the patriarchy is all about 100% legal abortion. If you grew up outside of those zipcodes, it's "slightly" different. Jezebel commentators actually question the idea that anyone would deny women equal rights as men. The naivete is astounding (sorry but HTML and accents don't mix).
I believe that all people are equal. FULL MOTHERFUCKING STOP. Unfortunately people like Naomi Wolf figure out a way that the west is evil for giving women freedom, and the Islamic world provides true freedom by mandating standards of dress reinforced by an immediate death penalty. I have no response.
On the other hand, she doesn' have some out and out refusal to be associated with the word, afaik. Although I doubt that she'd refuse to join FFL even if she did.
The nature of the thing is that the small towns and states rip off much more money from taxes than they contribute, leaving the urban/suburban areas and large states to pick up the tab. Then they whine about how folks who live in cities are immoral and big spenders. It also is the fundamental disjunction between how of Republicans campaigns and govern. It explains why the Republicans are now running against what happened during the eight Bush years and especially the six when they held both the Congress and the Presidency.
I'm enough of a distance from The Movement (I'm 34) that I never, or rarely, felt serious discrimination, and when I occasionally encountered it, it was always more of an eye-rolling thing than indignation.
I'm aware that, not having lived (as an adult) through the years when sexual harassment was okay, when women could be fired for getting pregnant, etc., I'm never going to really appreciate "what it was like," and am never going to have the kind of emotional reaction to women's successes (like Sen. Clinton's, like Gov. Palin's) that, say, Boomer women have.
You know how women who have lived through poverty -- maybe women who came of age during the Depression -- sometimes hoard things, saving every penny, never wasting food, even when times are good and they had plenty? Women who have grown up to live comfortable lives, and yet who still obsessively clip coupons or drive across town to get a better value on Shredded Wheat or who put aluminum foil through the dishwasher to use it again?
I didn't live through poverty, and I'm never going to appreciate the good things in life in the same way those women do, and I'm aware that they had experiences I didn't that have left them with these behaviors, and I respect them for their experiences. But I'm going to toss the aluminum foil into the recycling bin. I didn't have their experiences, I don't have the baggage, and I don't have to act like I have the baggage to acknowledge their sacrifices.
I feel the same way about reflexive, Boomer-style feminism.
Does Michelle Obama? From a WaPo interview:
Let's leave aside the silliness of her refusing the "liberal" label.
Ponder this for a second:
Given Palin's membership in Feminists for Life, this means that in this election cycle it is the Republican ticket taking up the "feminist" label, with the Democratic side explicitly refusing it. And this after they kicked down Hillary Clinton in the primary.
As a professional connoisseur of irony, I think 2008 will be a very good year.
Totally agree. Everyone is a feminist to some degree (well, except for some knuckle draggers). Heck, even my conservative, bible-quoting sister is thinks that women should have rights, and should have the opportunity of having a careeer.
I remember when I was younger and in the 70s having women in the workplace was a remarkable thing. There were debates as to whether a man could have a female boss. Every once in a while, you can see an old sitcom fromi the 70s and they deal with these issues. Now, women in the workplace is a given.
In that sense, we are all feminists.
Again, Phyllis Schafly? Or leading organizations that advocate that women stay home with their children and be subservient to their husbands doesn't amount to
"accomplish(ing) stuff"?
As mentioned above, she just doesn't think that public schools are the place to teach contraception. Ya know, with these parent-type-creatures around, maybe she has a point.
Furthermore, the funding for that particular centre (which has several functions, only one of which is helping pregnant teens) increased over the previous fiscal year, but was less than the Alaskan legislature asked for.
As for feminism...
I'm a first-wave feminist. Would have gotten along great with Susan B. Anthony and the rest of them; get where the second-wave crew is coming from; and think the third-wavers are bat-loony crazy.
I guess the modern distinction is "gender feminism" and "equality feminism," which doesn't seem like great labeling.
Feminists for Life has been VERY excited that their mission statement has been incorporated into both parties' platforms.
"Would Phil Gramm be the person to ask what "feminists" whine about, or is he expert only on what amounts to economic whining? Does his wife count as a "feminist"? How about Libby Dole or Kay Bailey Hutchins?"
1. She isn't a feminist.
2. I think she will say she isn't a feminist.
3. I will not switch sides and boast McCain picked a femnist.
4. I don't know if Phil Gramm would be the person to ask about feminism. What do you think?
5. Phil Gramm may have multiple areas of expertise.
6. Phil Gramm's wife does not count as a feminist.
7. Libby Dole does not count as a feminist.
8. Kay Bailey Hutchins does not count as a feminist.
Are you a feminist?
I don't see how you can miss the staggering irony. The number of parents at home in that household appears to be zero. In other words, there seems to be a distinct absence of "parent-type-creatures around" who are available "to teach contraception." And this is the reality that seems to have led to Bristol's condition.
Bristol Palin is a poster-child for the idea that "public schools are the place to teach contraception." Because if you leave it up to the parents to do it, you might find out that they are busy racing snow machines. Or busy trying to ruin the career of mom's sister's ex-husband, and then lying about it.
Pol Pot did it for the children, too. For the children!
Also, to throw a bone to the nihilists in the crowd: her religious convictions obviously aren't effective, so they're wrong superstitions, and hey, maybe someday we'll get over them and we can legislate them out of our lives.
Yup. Weaned on Helen Reddy and Marlo Thomas.
Take your silly and offensive analogy to the ignorant moonbat who said this:
jukeboxgrad: I thought your point was that the government should be paternal because the legal guardians aren't. I'm sorry I took it that way.