i've been making this point for a while, both here, and with my wife's bryn mawr friends. it's hard to be a feminist and ridcule powerful, successful women. [rquoter]Palin deserves our respect Helen McCaffrey is the director of Women's Watch Inc., a nonprofit women's advocacy group based in Cape May I cannot predict who will win the presidential campaign, but I already know who will lose big: all women. I realized this when I saw a 20-something male student who attends a class in the community college where I teach, wearing a T-shirt that read, "Sarah Palin is a C-." He wore it in public, in broad daylight, and without shame or even consciousness of what he was doing. I took the time to advise him of the "error of his ways" and informed him of the consequences if he wore it to my class. This encounter shook me right down to my socks. Most of my adult life has been spent working for civil rights for all Americans, as a lawyer defending constitutional rights and now as a college teacher and director of a nonprofit advocating for the rights of women. Not since I told myself I could lose weight on the pizza and cheesecake diet have I been so self-deluded. This election cycle has been like stepping on the scale. It was the encounter with the young man that woke me up, but there were signs all along the campaign trail. First, with the candidacy of Sen. Hillary Clinton, who won 18 million popular votes from the people of the United States and was ridiculed, marginalized, and put in her place when she wasn't even offered the vice presidency slot. But the really big attack on women occurred when John McCain selected only the second woman in history to be on a major-party ticket. He chose a governor of a state critical to our energy crisis. She is a very popular governor with an 80-percent approval rate. She was elected on her own merit without previous political ties. She is her own political creation, not the wife, daughter, sister or mistress of a politician. I thought Americans would be proud of her nomination, whether we agreed or disagreed with her on the issues. Was I in for a shock. The sexism that I believed had been eradicated was lurking, like some creature from the black lagoon, just below the surface. Suddenly it erupted and in some unexpected places. Instead of engaging Palin on the issues, critics attacked attributes that are specifically female. It is Hillary's pantsuit drama to the power of 10. Palin's hair, her voice, her motherhood, and her personal hygiene were substituted for substance. That's when it was nice. The hatred escalated to performers advocating Palin be "gang raped," to suggestions that her husband had had sex with their young daughters, and reports that her Down syndrome child really was that of her teenage daughter. One columnist even called for her to submit to DNA testing to prove her virtue. Smells a little like Salem to me. I was present at an Obama rally at which the mention of Palin's name drew shouts of "stone her." "Stone her"? How biblical. All this is at a time when women are regularly being raped as they try to cross the border into the United States; bloody, broken women haunt the emergency rooms of hospitals; and abuse and disrespect for women and girls is rising faster than bank bailouts. That is the atmosphere in which people, including women, choose to attempt to destroy a woman who is a legitimate political leader. Agreement on issues is not required, but Palin merits respect. It is dismaying that misogyny and sexism are so excessively marbleized into our daily interactions that some of us cannot even recognize their existence when confronted with it or when staring at it directly in the mirror. It is my fervent hope that those who purport to be intellectuals begin to engage in argument and not resort to their baser selves or the easy exercise of personal and biology-based attacks. Mockery and vilification of women such as Palin should become just as taboo as race-based slams. Until then, women are the real losers.[/rquoter]
Completely agree. The early tabloid crap about her kids was totally uncalled for, and the wardrobe thing similarly reeks of sexism. But the inability to name one Supreme Court decision? The contention that she has foreign policy experience because Russia is close to Alaska? Calling certain parts of America "pro-America"? Putting down fruit fly research when this has clear ties to the study of autism? There is no doubt an element of sexism. But do you think it's because of the way she is? Of course. Hillary Clinton and Kay Bailey Hutchinson would not (or were not) be ridiculed the way Palin is. She's opened it up for herself. McCain's own advisors have said that she's been one of the toughest candidates ever to "bring up to speed" on issues. Geraldine Ferraro didn't deal with these types of things. So it's not just her gender, it's her own public missteps that have had the largest impact on voters. Most have commented on the fact that "she's not ready to lead," not about the other stuff. Just like most have said they could care less about Ayers regarding Obama. Definitely a good point, though. Some of the media are going after stuff that is silly. No point in doing so- Palin's already done enough damage on the credibility thing without the press having to drag in wardrobe issues.
So when you are with these so-called friends of yours, do you hand them a photocopy of some right wing rant, say one line, and then walk away?
The worst offenders of sexism seem to be Conservative Palin supporters such as Rich Lawry. Of course as a feminist it's hard to support Palin who advocated rape victims having to pay for their own rape kit. It's hard for a feminist to support Palin who despite being successful in what she's achieved by being governor, is shaming herself and showing she is incompetent by not even having a basic understanding of what the role of VP actually is. She's also shown that she's incompetent by not having a clue about foreign policy, not being able to hold her own against softball questions such as what she's read. Of course Palin had something to say about the percieved whine. She's seemingly done a 180 on this. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/F9Y8FKAsxmk&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/F9Y8FKAsxmk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Hillary's been called a c*** much more than Palin could ever dream. Hell, poor Cindy's probably been labeled the word more than Palin... I don't see how it would be hard to be a feminist and reject Palin potentially being in power. There's one party that values womens rights more than the other - and Palin belongs to the other.
This seems to be a basso meme, saying that people need to throw their own views out the window and support people just because they share skin color or gender? Like Condi Rice for example.
i'm not sure what the fruit fly angle is- i'm reasonably well versed in issues relating to ASD, and this is the first i've read of it- Link? regarding the Supreme Court, she's on record, pre-couric, as opposind the exxon valdez decision. i'm not sure why she had a brain-fart w/ couric, but to extrapolate from that that she's unfamiliar with other SCOTUS...i'ts simplay not true. the russia answer was inelegant, to be sure, but not inaccurate. the alaska national guard, by virtue of it's geography, has responibilities in NORAD that other state governors don't, and their commander, the governor, shares in them. and right now, the russians are buzzing the bering sttrait w/ bear bombers...yes, she has some national security experience that the governor of, oh, arkansas, or a chigago alderman, might not share. pro-america? yeah, not happy she went there, but it's a fairly small point, unless, of course, you want to bring up 20 years of listening to "god damn america" in which case, bring it on... the larger point is, the PMS on the left, and the corresponding refusal on the left to acknowledge any criticisms of Obama, has obscured any legitimate criticism of palin, or any of the candidates. the same has been true for the past 8 years re bush. let's hope the next 4 brings with it less demonization, or ideol worship, and a more measured, uhm, measuring of the president.
btw, virtually the exact same issues were relayed to me tonight via email by another friend on the left, so congrats on getting the talking points correct!
As I said in the McCain CO rally thread stuff like this terrible and it should be roundly condemned but it still happens and to a certain extent it should be expected in a heated campaign. I certainly don't think Palin is qualified to be a heartbeat away from the President and I think her own performance has greatly hurt any image of competance she might have. Still there does seem to be a visceral reaction to her whether of support or disgust. I've heard Hillary Clinton supporters argue that much of the reaction towards her was sexist based. I really don't know if that is the case and I don't know if there is anything to that with regard to Sarah Palin. For whatever reason though both of them do seem to get a rise out of people one way or the other.
but plain has a record by which she can be judeged, beyond her perfomance in interviews. obama, on the other hand, has performed beautifully in interviews, and yet, has no comparable record in public office or executive experience.
Maybe if McCain had picked somebody more competent, like a certain senator from Texas who's views are closer to Hillary supporters, he might have actually made inroads to those "femenists" who btw have usually been referred to as "Femi-nazis" by certain GOP cheerleaders.
She has a record of abusing authority, and having a myth created by her and about about her that has since been proven false. Obama actually does have a record, and it's quite impressive. Factor that in with the fact that Palin doesn't even know what the VP is supposed to do, it's easy to see that she isn't prepared.
*cough* Roger Stone *cough* So, a handful of doofus ironic hipsters versus a concerted effort by famed Republican ratf-cker Roger Stone. Both, idiots; both to be condemned. One has a slightly more establsihed record on this issue. Citizens United Not Timid All class.
