Sarah Palin Sexism Watch: Pro-family feminism

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Pro-family feminism

I like that description of Palin - a lot.

Sarah Palin represents a more nuanced version of feminism and conservatism than we've seen represented thus far in the media and popular culture. I suspect it's not really that new; many women - conservative, liberal and in between - were already living a version of it anyway: Pro-family feminism.

The old stereotypical feminism: Career women who saw marriage, family, and even men themselves, as representing patriarchal shackles that needed to be thrown off. Fathers weren't really necessary as they were instruments of the aforementioned patriarchal oppression. Women's equality revolved around loyalty to one key issue: A pro-abortion stance. I know some women who embraced this position only to live to regret it in their late 30s, when they realized that they really did, in fact, want kids.

The old stereotypical conservatism: Women had only one acceptable choice; stay home and raise the kids or you were a "bad mother."

Sarah's new pro-family feminism: Let women decide how to best balance their own lives (in conjunction with their partners). If they choose, women can have equality and careers and a husband and kids. If they choose, women can stay home to raise their kids. Neither choice should be condemned. The husband is an equal partner in the child rearing; in some cases (First Dude?), the man may assume more of the child-rearing duties as the woman ascends the career ladder. Opposing abortion doesn't make a woman anti-woman.

Men can comfortably embrace pro-family feminism because it doesn't devalue them. Men are important; fathers matter. Female equality doesn't diminish males' importance in their own families and children's lives.

I think it's great if Palin-supporting conservatives are adopting pro-family feminism (or maybe had already embraced it with scant media attention). I think it's sad that a lot of liberal feminists are moving toward, ironically, the old stereotypical conservative position regarding women's roles in society - at least when it comes to Sarah Palin.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...: You may want to review Andy's popular blog (andrewsullivan.com). He has many posts on Gov. Palin. He supports Obama of course.; September 6, 2008 at 4:28 PM
Anonymous said...: AMEN!; September 6, 2008 at 6:18 PM
The Speculative Bio-Tech Investor said...: Perhaps, you could look no further to Sarah Palin herself when she calls Hillary Clinton a whiner about sexism.

Video is below:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=184086&title=sarah-palin-gender-card

And now, Sarah Palin is crying and pulling the same "victimization card" that she called Hillary Clinton out for? Take a page out of John Kerry circa 2004 -- being against before you're for it!

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=184086&title=sarah-palin-gender-card; September 6, 2008 at 6:28 PM
Anonymous said...: Sarah Palin hasn't lodged the sexism charge herself though; September 6, 2008 at 6:56 PM
The Speculative Bio-Tech Investor said...: The McCain Campaign has 'lodged' and so has Carly Fiorna -- Victory 08 Chair of the campaign and Palin is representative of that stance since she's part of the ticket..

Too bad they can't find so-called Obama-Biden Democrats who have supposedly gone after her family. What a poor call on her behalf. Palin should be ashamed of herself.

Oh yea and thanks to Palin for providing extra energy to all the Community Organizers of the USA to get out the vote. We now have record numbers in VA, NM, CO, IA. I guess they had responsibilities and did fulfill them.; September 6, 2008 at 7:25 PM

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What is sexism?

All criticisms of Sarah Palin are not sexist. It would be sexist to expect that she would receive no criticism, or that she SHOULD receive no criticism, because she is a woman. I admit that some of the criticism of Palin may really be the result of ideological bias, or simply sloppy reporting, not sexism. Some of the questions are fair game in isolation (yes, of course, it's fair to talk about Palin's experience in general; it's that she's held to a higher standard than males in the race that's the issue).

The Palin piling on is a complex cultural stew. In some cases, I suspect ideological and gender bias are working together. A reader has challenged me to define what I consider to be sexism. Broadly, I would define sexism in the political sphere as the following: When the woman is held to a higher and different standard than a similarly situated male, especially but not limited to issues that have no relevance to the race and that tend to diminish the woman's professional accomplishments by playing into gender stereotypes.

Specifically, here is a list of what I consider to be sexist behavior:

Coverage of a female politician that fixates on her physical appearance, pro or con. I admit that male politicians sometimes face this (Obama walking shirtless out of the Hawaiian surf got a lot of attention, and there was a lot of attention about John Edwards' shiny hair). And I think that some women have mixed feelings about this. After all, who doesn't want to be considered good looking? But, for many women, when they are in a professional setting, and supposedly professional media commentators place the focus back on their physical appearance, as a positive or a negative, it feels diminishing of their professional accomplishments. This works both ways, of course. Hillary Clinton has been viciously attacked by some on the right for supposedly not being good looking. That, too, is sexist, especially since unattractive male politicians are generally not held to this standard. If you think about it, good-looking male politicians also find their appearance the topic of discussion in many cases, but that's not true of unattractive male politicians. It's true in both cases for women. Simply put, appearance is not relevant to competence, so why are we talking about Palin's hair and looks?
Sexual-related comments about a female politician.
Blatant belittling of one's intelligence without evidence and in a manner not accorded to male opponents (i.e. saying the woman is stupid, needs a teleprompter, needs a lot of coaching, etc.)
Implying that the woman must not really believe her positions or must be under the intellectual sway of a more powerful male. (This happens in racism too. Consider how opponents argue that Clarence Thomas is a tool of intellectual white men like Antonin Scalia).
Double standards relating to motherhood; i.e., the female politician is asked questions about motherhood that her male counterparts aren't asked about fatherhood. (Why doesn't Palin stay home to take care of the kids? Hillary, why don't you want to stay home to bake cookies and hold teas?) The reverse is also true. It's also wrong for people to demean females who CHOOSE to stay home and raise their families. I personally believe that whether a woman chooses to be a housewife, a career woman, or, like Palin, a mixture of both, is her personal decision and debate about it really isn't relevant in a presidential election.
Slurs that are typically used to demean women but aren't applied to similarly aggressive men; i.e. when attributes that would be praised in a man are reduced to a negative in the woman (b-tch, nag, etc.). The Martha Stewart phenomenon. The tough woman is a b-tch, but the overly emotional woman is too weak to lead (women can't win sometimes!)
The woman is held to higher standards for intelligence/professional qualifications than a male opponent. (Palin is utterly unqualified, but Obama is then not?)
Diminishing of traditional female roles as being silly (the PTA, chortle, chortle, chortle. She was a housewife once, how pathetic, etc.). I don't know about you, but right now I am thinking about the woman, a housewife, who ran my child's Catholic Bible school this summer, and she was quite a force to be reckoned with. I'd love to pit her against Putin.
Emphasis on female roles traditionally seen as silly when discussing an accomplished, professional woman (she was a beauty queen 24 years ago!!!!!!)
Assuming incompetence. (she's a woman, so she won't be a strong leader, etc.)
The woman becomes defined by a single gender-related issue in a manner that males do not (consider how the abortion question is defining Palin, but doesn't define Obama or even McCain.)
Issues that aren't used against male opponents are magnified out of proportion against the woman. (Bristol-mania. I admit this one might be ideological bias more than sexism, but I do think it's caught up in Palin's cultural role as a "mother")
Invasion of the personal sphere and personalization/lifestyle focus of/on the candidate. In other words, covering the woman through the gauze of personality and lifestyle issues, rather than professional accomplishment. (Why are we talking about Palin's prenatal care and amniotic fluid again? It's creepy. Do we talk about Biden's sperm count? I admit that's a really creepy thought, and I do admit that Palin invited some of this by talking about her breastfeeding to People magazine. But still.)

Sarah Palin Sexism Watch

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Pro-family feminism

5 comments:

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