Sarah Palin: The Debate Continues

Okay, fine. I've avoided the issue long enough. Alaskan governor Sarah Palin was recently chosen as the Republican party's vice presidential candidate. Is this an important feminist achievement, or every liberal's worst nightmare?

The folks over at I Blame the Patriarchy are busy debating the issue, and I think reader Virago's comment says it all:

"Sarah Palin isn’t going to do anything for feminism. She’s way too pro-life. She opposes policies that will help working women and their children. Yet, she was privileged enough to have a job where it was made easier for her to combine work and family. She cut funding for pregnant teenagers while her own pregnant teenage daughter has access to resources poor teens don’t have. She’s for abstinence-only education, which certainly didn’t work very well for her own family. When she was mayor of an Alaskan town, rape victims had to pay for their own rape test kits in the emergency room. Ordinarily, I would like to see a woman V.P., but not if she’s going to pander to the patriarchy. She’s a woman who has enjoyed the fruits of the feminist movement, but she wants to put policies in place that will only destroy the progress that feminism has made for women."

Well said. As a seasoned feminist, it's difficult to see that ANY action being done by a woman ANYWHERE is instantly labeled as "feminist." It's a testament to the fact that our country still thinks that feminism is about "grrl power" and ousting men, rather than dealing with very real injustices that women experience on a daily basis.