How To Be an Anti-Feminist Feminist

Aside from all the swell Alaska trivia (salmonberries, moose eyeballs, baleen etchings), Sarah Palin’s new memoir has enlightened me about one important thing. For at least a decade, I have puzzled over this new type that showed up on the political scene in the mid-'90s—the Republican “mom” politician. Here was a creature who could work fiendishly, have many children, and still smugly call herself traditional and anti-feminist. Honestly, it makes no sense. It’s like when my kid says he didn’t eat the Oreos but the crumbs are right there on his face. In Palin’s book, Going Rogue, this worldview still makes no sense but it does appear to, thanks to these few tricks:

—Mention Title IX in a confusing way. Sarah Palin likes Title IX because it allowed her to play basketball, which is something elite Northeastern women apparently don’t do. She writes that she is “proud” of the legislation and a “product” of it. But then one paragraph later, she quotes an obscure book ranting against the National Organization for Women and other “so-called ‘women’s groups’” that got it passed. She does not attempt to reconcile these two views.

—Talk about “Neanderthals” and “good ole’ boys.” Palin uses these words often. This might seem very 1970s cooperative of her, as if she wants to say, see, Maureen Dowd, see Dayo, I am just like you! I can spot the oppressor! But that’s not what she means. She’s using the phrases more like Dolly Parton or Thelma and Louise might use them: These are patriotic, God-fearing Neanderthals, and they are our husbands and sons.

—Don’t EVER say ambitious. This rule comes from my favorite passage in the book. Palin is rocking Piper on one of those glider rockers and snuggling her, and thinking maybe she should be a stay-at-home mom after all. But then no, a little voice inside her is telling her she has to run for governor: “Was this ambition? I didn’t think so. Ambition drives; purpose beckons. Purpose calls.” An ambitious woman running for governor. Yuck. But a purposeful woman? That’s godly. That’s hot.

—Praise God. You can get away with almost anything if you’re called to do it, and you have the appropriate Biblical passage at hand to back you up. In Palin’s case, the push to run for office came from Jeremiah 29:11-13: “'For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘Plans for peace and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.' ” Anybody out there want to interpret that? I myself have heard Christians use that particular one to justify dozens of possibilities, from cafeteria worker to parole officer. Seems to me “mom” would fit just as well.

—Take your kids on the campaign trail. This is a key one. A feminist leaves her kids at home for a couple of days with relatives or a babysitter while she campaigns. An anti-feminist drags her kids on 12-hour car rides across Alaska so she can attend a meet-and-greet, because they all “love” campaigning with mom.

—Never admit you’re wrong. One of the key victories of feminism was giving women new choices. Palin has improved on the model by never making the wrong one. A weaker woman might admit that maybe she should have prepared a little more for the fatal Katie Couric interview, or paid more attention to Bristol, but Palin is beyond that. She is the new, improved model—confident, liberated, and chosen by God.

Tags: Going Rogie, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin and feminists

Hanna Rosin Double X co- editor, reporter, prefer my friends live.

Comments

Palin a feminist for Couric

By: patresponse | Thu, 11/19/2009 - 22:37

Like being a Lesbian Until Graduation. You'll change your mind when Brian Williams starts sweet-talkin' ya...

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/erbe/2008/10/24/sarah-palins-feminist-flip-f...

In an interview on NBC Nightly News that aired yesterday, Brian Williams asked Palin: "Governor, are you a feminist?"

"I'm not gonna label myself anything, Brian," said Palin. "And I think that's what annoys a lot of Americans, especially in a political campaign, is to start trying to label different parts of America different, different backgrounds, different... I'm not going to put a label on myself."

But label herself is just what she did last month in an interview with CBS's Katie Couric, who asked her if she considered herself a feminist. Her answer was an unabashed, "I do."

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Evidently that part of the Couric interview was considered by someone, either Palin or another member of the campaign, not to be useful in getting her elected. So she dropped the "label" and doesn't seem to have picked it back up since then.

wandering charlatans offering potions & talking in tounges

By: Thegilmoregirl | Thu, 11/19/2009 - 22:26

Sarah Palin was meant to be a televangelist...Her new found career in politics is just a new face-lift on an old bottle of cure all potion... Please go and sell it to the choir - they will give it up for you, Sarah.

"Christianity began as a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. When it went to Athens, it became a philosophy. When it went to Rome, it became an organization. When it went to Europe, it became a culture. When it came to America, it became a business." - unknown classic quote

Research

By: Lilasnicker | Thu, 11/19/2009 - 21:31

To JTHC75,
Palin's policies and beliefs run counter to feminism, many directly so. She doesn't have to call herself an 'anti-feminist.' She reaps all of the benefits while trying to turn back the clock on everyone else.

BTW, thanks Hanna, for pointing out that there's really no difference between being ambitious and responding to an ambitious calling or "purpose". I recently decided to make a big life change, what I feel is a calling, but shied away from calling it 'ambitious' because that's just not how ladylike women frame their choices. I feel differently now.

Um,

By: JTHC75 | Thu, 11/19/2009 - 20:25

Has Palin ever called herself an anti-feminist? Oh wait, she actually did the opposite and called herself a feminist. Great job doing your research, Hanna.

nothing new here

By: femomhist | Thu, 11/19/2009 - 17:59

As a historian, I am constantly amazed by how women rise to prominence on the platform of "do as I say, not as I do." Palin is no different than the anti suffragists, Catherine Beecher, Sarah Josepha Hale, or hundreds of thousands of women who "organize" themselves in public to support retrograde policies that posit women as suited only for the private sphere.

Sigh plus ca change, plus ca meme.

Gloria Steinem

By: xxreader | Thu, 11/19/2009 - 16:35

A few weeks ago or longer, Meet the Press showed a clip from 1972 of Gloria Steinem defending feminism. Being a 30-something, I'm only entitled to the results of feminism but admittedly I'm not well versed in the history. Anyway - I was flabbergasted by the language the men were using when speaking to Steinem. Here it is below:

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Moderator Lawrence E. Spivak: ‘Ms. Steinem, may I ask you a question. You made a speech before the National Press Club where you said and I quote, ‘Women are not taken seriously. We are undervalued or ignored by society which consciously and unconsciously assumes that the male is the standard or the norm.’ .What’s your explanation for this serious state of affairs in view of the fact that men, males at least, are controlled by women from birth to puberty and beyond that. Why haven’t you done a better job if you are as smart as you say you are?’”
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How do you think Sarah Palin would react if spoken to in that manner?