Jessica Valenti, the founder of Feministing.com, provides a good analysis of Palin's remarks to the Susan B. Anthony List in the May 30 Washington Post Outlook section, which I'll summarize here (anything in quote marks and italics is from Valenti's article in the Post) :
After telling CBS's Katie Couric in 2008 that she was a feminist and then telling NBC's Brian Williams that she would not "label myself anything," Valenti writes that today, Palin is
"...happily adopting the feminist label...It's not a realization of the importance of women's rights that's inspired the change. It's strategy. Palin's sisterly speechifying is part of a larger conservative move to woo women by appropriating feminist language."
The anti-abortion tactic of saying abortion "hurts women" is pretty well known and never fails to enrage me - I'd say non-consensual sex and an unwanted child hurt a lot more. Valenti brings up another mind-boggling bit of nonsense - the Independent Women's Forum argument against addressing pay inequities: that "the salary gap is a result of women's informed choices - motherhood, for example - and that claims of discrimination turn women into victims." Are women identifying with their oppressors?
So, Valenti asks, why do women listen to these pseudo-feminists? Because Palin and others align themselves with the suffragists and are "not-so-subtly saying that women in America have achieved equality. In fact, they don't believe that systemic sexism exists." In other words, we have the vote - what more do we want?
How does Palin rally women if everything is fine and dandy? By painting "actual feminists as condescending hypocrites who simply don't believe in young women" and who - by supporting abortion rights - send a message to young women that they're not strong and capable enough to have a child - an unintended one - and pursue their education and career at the same time. Holy mother, it's not about equality - it's about convincing young women not to have an abortion!
Valenti continues:
"So Palin's 'feminism' isn't just co-opting the language of the feminist movement, it's deliberately misrepresenting real feminism to distract from the fact that she supports policies that limit women's rights."
Valenti makes a few other good points - "feminism" encompasses a tremendous range of viewpoints, no one owns the label, saying you're a feminist doesn't mean you act like one (ie, feminists can be bigoted). But bottomline, "certain things are inarguable" - "Feminism is a social justice movement with values and goals that benefit women. It's a structural analysis of a world that oppresses women, an ideology based on the notion that patriarchy exists and that it needs to end."
We who ARE feminists need to reclaim the term for real. We can't let Palin and her buddies steal what we have worked so hard to establish, in word and deed.
At the Virginia NOW state conference recently at James Madison University, we talked about feminism. One student said that the challenging thing about women's studies is that once you have knowledge about oppression, you have a responsibility to do something about it. I think about that a lot when young women tell me about the discrimination they face in the workplace...when the UVA lacrosse player got killed by her violent ex-boyfriend...when I think about how hard it is to raise a child in a family-unfriendly society such as ours. Once you have knowledge, you have a responsibility to act on it.
Sarah Palin has no knowledge - and the only action she's taking is trying to get publicity and possibly get elected. We have to stop her and the other so-called feminists who oppose fundamental justice and equality for women.
