Sarah Palin - Role Model for Anti-Feminists

Sarah Palin hasn't gone away. Oh, she may be back in Alaska, but she's also all over the media, as in recent interviews with Greta Van Susteren on Fox News, on the Today show with Matt Lauer, and on Larry King Live. Even Oprah has invited Sarah to her show! Rachel Maddow and others have speculated on the possibility of Ted Stevens, the Alaskan senator who has seven felony convictions (what is it, exactly with Alaska?), winning that long drawn out election, not being allowed to serve in Congress (duh! a convicted felon...), and Sarah then running for Senator and heading to Washington that way.

So, no, she's not going away, even though Fox News--certainly not the bastion of the "liberal" media that she thinks treated her so unfairly--has quite literally thrown her under the bus as the reason the Republicans lost. In their words, the "Hail Mary" pass of picking her as the VP candidate, despite stirring the passion of Joe Six-Packs, didn't work. She refused preparation help for the Katie Couric interview that the Fox announcers pinpointed as the beginning of the end of McCain's popularity in the polls.

As long as Sarah is still with us, let's learn something from her. Everything about her, including her body language, makes her the perfect role model for anti-feminist principles.

Let's start with her body language--those winks at the camera, the beauty pageant walk, the not-so-subtle seductiveness. When we see her in front of the camera, "mother of five" is not the first thought that comes to mind. Here is a woman using classic feminine wiles to woo her audience. Even the veneer of folksy "gotcha's" and those persistent dropped "g's" don't turn her into the sweet girl next door. These old tools of seduction, which served women in the past as their best means of survival, are no longer the way to winning in the long run. We've come a long way, baby, but thinking Africa is a country leaves Sarah back in the Dark Ages.

Palin focuses her energy in the throat, making for a great performance. She is attractive, commanding, and confident--a charismatic communicator who enjoys--no, lusts after--a position of power. No one who saw Sarah's right-wing crowd-pleasing speeches during the campaign would deny that she came off as full of spunk and vigor, sure of herself, smiling through her snide attacks on her opponents. That's the frontier mama, ready with the shotgun to go kill dinner and whatever nasty Injuns are lurking out there. The dangerous warrior with aggressive ambition. She'll use every bit of ammunition in her arsenal to get to a place where she can wield more power and control.

Her consistent patterns of behavior and speech demonstrate a worldview that narrowly defines life as black and white, with an internal motto of "kill or be killed." Far from the feminist ideals of coordination and cooperation, ironically embodied in the President-elect, Sarah Palin sees herself as someone who is battling for what is right and true--her "right" and her "true." If someone goes against her or questions her "truth," the barracuda attacks! Or else she calls on Reverend Muthee to protect her from "all forms of witchcraft."

Sarah has a strong conviction that she is "good" while others are "bad," "right" while others are "wrong." Since she is very willing to fight for what is "right," she is always the aggressor and blames everything on the "other"--whether that other is the Democratic ticket, the liberal press, or the nasty backstabbers on McCain's staff. Those clothes just appeared for the eight members of her family (presumably counting the teen father of her daughter's baby). Wasn't her fault.

Sadly, Sarah seems unable to experience or trust the goodness of others. Everyone's out to getcha. She picked a First Dude who lets her run the show while he cares for the kids, and leaves her in total control. It is that fear of losing control that wants to ban books. It is the fear that needs to stand behind a gun. And it is the fear that lies with impunity, and a smile and a wink.

Sarah Palin, who hasn't gone away quietly, should.

Follow Deborah King on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TruthHeals

Comments

[newme117]

Go in peace, Sarah. Take care of Alaska, take care of your new baby, be there when your first grandchild is born, help your husband raise the kids. It may not suit your ambition, but everyone would feel better about you if you'd pay attention to what's on your plate already and stopped pushing so hard to be all over the TV. We've seen quite enough of you for quite a long time to come! Good article!

[peterkatona]

Palin is clearly more celebrity than newsmaker at this point, but one has to wonder about the media addiction to all-things-Sara. Does anyone recall this kind of criticism, attention or focus on a losing vice-presidential candidate? Did the press follow Joe Lieberman around asking about his clothes? Was there a lot of attention paid to Lloyd Bentson about how he didn't add to the Dukakis ticket? Were reporters knocking down Jack Kemp's door in '96? One has to wonder if this has to do with her attractiveness (physical and political to the GOP base), coupled with the media's love of knocking people off a perceived pedestal. Or perhaps it's simply the pre-emptive political destruction of her to make her unviable as a candidate in the future. After all, she'd be quite a force if she rehabilitated herself over the next four years. So that can't be allowed to happen, can it?
This isn't from some partisan perspective. It's just that what appears to be the media's Palin-fetish, particularly since the election is history, strikes me as odd.

[Romulus]

Anti-feminist, huh? Isn't being a feminist insisting that women should be allowed to participate in all areas of life and not limited to just being wives and mothers? Not that I care much for Sarah Palin but it seems to me that she is a great role for feminism. She not only is a wife and mother but she is a governor of a state, was nominated for vice-president, and is being given, in some circles, serious consideration to be President. I won't vote for her but I think that when you look at her you can say to feminism as a whole, "you've come a long way, baby."

[PenelopeS]

Hear, hear! Women need to stop being each other's worst enemies. I am a feminist and any woman who makes in-roads - as Palin has - into a strictly male bastion is carrying the standard for my daughter, for all our daughters (including Barack Obama's!). I do not agree with all her positions by any means, but I respect her and I am getting less and less tolerant of bloggers who are attacking her because she is a woman - and women, you're among the worst!

Stop all this petty sniping. It is nothing but "bitching" and God knows men criticize us enough for that. Stop giving them grist for their sexist mills. Where are the male posters bitching about Joe Biden's facelifts, hair-plugs, etc.? Let's talk about that, shall we? Oh, no, men are serious, women are just silly little fools only good enough to run for First Lady.

[meg2009]

You (PenelopeS and Romulus) both disgust me. Don't identify with a concept of feminism that is not what true feminism is. Feminism is a gender-inclusive movement to end sex and gender inequality. That's what feminism is, not this "let's-jus­t-support-­women-beca­use-they'r­e-women" ideology that you're referring to. Sarah Palin is anti-feminist because she:
1) does not support issues supported by the feminist movement (i.e. homosexual rights (something she opposes), pro-choice advocacy (something in which she does not take part), women's advocacy (I never once heard her try to speak out against domestic violence or sexual violence. Which is very ironic as Alaska has the highest rape statistics in all of the 50 states), and equal wages for both men and women in the same careers (something she was completely silent on, by the way)); and
2) does not set herself apart from misogynistic attacks (read the article you both responded to: her "politics" of sex appeal is definitive of anti-feminism as it objectifies women).

PenelopeS, this is not "petty sniping" and "bitching". It's a reaction to Palin setting the feminist movement back several years. Feminism supports intellectualism, something Palin probably doesn't even know how to spell. Palin is not a strong woman, look at Hillary Clinton for an example of strength and feminism exemplified.

And, by the way, one doesn't "run" for First Lady. One isn't elected First Lady and there is no campaign to be First Lady. Wow.

[Maisey]

She is a true narcissist, plain and simple.

[RhiannonMR]

She's going to be back in a very short time. This is one woman with more ambition than sense. And that ambition is to be the center of attention. I really wish she'd never been inflicted on the nation as a whole, because she got a taste of superstardom and she wants more of it. Of course she'll run in 2012, doesn't mean she'll win. And the primary process within her own party may well be the cage match from hell. Hopefully it will chew her up and spit her out badly mauled.

[Miravanguild]

Why doesn't she just go away, do her job as governor and raise her baby.. I've seen enough of this woman to last a life time.