Sarah Palin in Seneca Falls

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Ugh.  Enjoy the great many cringe-worthy moments in this article about Sarah Palin’s recent trip to feminist landmarks in upstate New York here.

-Leigh Goodmark

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13 Responses to Sarah Palin in Seneca Falls

  1. Ann Bartow says:

    I don’t know, Leigh. I’m not a Sarah Palin fan AT ALL but I thought her visit to Seneca Falls was kind of encouraging.

  2. lgoodmark says:

    I thought the comment about Harriet Tubman was beyond idiocy, and resented that she took the opportunity at Seneca Falls to talk about rights for all women, including those in the womb (although I guess since Susan B. Anthony was staunchly anti-abortion, she was entitled at that point). And the “mommy mayors” thing was just sickening.

  3. Nancy says:

    I’m with Ann on this one – and I have to agree with Palin’s comment about “some things don’t change….”

  4. Ann Bartow says:

    Responding to conservative women who identify as feminists is certainly complicated. Palin didn’t win any points with “the base” by going to Seneca Falls. Nor did she win me over by a zillion miles, but as I said, I thought it was at least encouraging. Reasonable minds can definitely disagree about this of course.

  5. Nancy says:

    It is complicated — and while I don’t agree with her politics, I tend to be a bit wary of media depictions of female politicians with strong personalities…

  6. Pingback: Sarah Palin goes to Seneca Falls « Knitting Clio

  7. Gender2010 says:

    I think any person has a right to go to Seneca Falls regardless of political party or religious affiliation. Palin appointed a pro-choice justice to Alaska SC. Good for her. She is pro-contraception.
    Harry Reid is anti-choice and he’s not the butt of jokes likes Palin is. Is it the fact that Americans aren’t used to seeing a woman speak her mind and not sound like a man?
    We need to hear more women’s voices in politics.

  8. pm317 says:

    What was so cringe worthy about her remarks? I am appalled at the elitist attitude of some of you women — you think a woman has to have some kind of big university credentials and speak a certain way to be a feminist? You think she is beneath you that she does not deserve to fight your fight? She is an elected governor and so far I see some awkwardness and lack of polish and finesse in her speech but on things she is knowledgeable she makes quite a lot of sense. But she is fearless and was the first woman to use the phrase “good old boys network” in a public form. How many of you have the courage to use some such phrase in your own work environment and take on patriarchy, feminist or not. Try saying that to your tenure committee.

  9. Ann Bartow says:

    pm317, I don’t speak for Leigh, and I don’t even agree with Leigh on this issue, but she is not an elitist and that is not the basis for her reaction. Also, Leigh has plenty of courage and is an activist feminist who has done a lot of important work on behalf of women. Slamming the bloggers here isn’t a particularly effective way to defend Palin, who certainly has been on the receiving end of a lot of ugly and sexist media coverage, but isn’t my idea of an effective feminist either.

  10. Pingback: Feminists on the Left? Bah, Humbug! : NO QUARTER

  11. hpushkin says:

    I’m glad she went to Seneca Falls. I think it pointed out Women’s history to many who didn’t know about Seneca Falls. Then they can make up their own minds.

    Being from the Northwest, I find many “liberal” objections to her understandable, but not those which call her dumb, low class, and the downright nasty personal and appearance incsults. Working on a commercial fishing boat is about as tough as it gets hard workwise. She’s like many people I know.

    Hey–I’m a liberal, and well educated–does that make me unworthy then if I find her interesting and admirable? Glad to see a female governor out and about. I am not glad to see the slamming she is taking–find it quite offensive.

  12. Gender2010 says:

    I picked up this thread again in No Quarter.

    I am a feminist and a liberal and I like Palin. I know it is fashionable to slam Palin if you are a self-proclaimed intellectual because of her voice and some things she said that indicated she might now be ready for prime time (although if she answered Couric that she read the NY Times she would have been called a liar and if she said Vogue she would have been called an idiot), but let me ask the feminists here this:

    Didn’t women go through decades of being told they couldn’t be news anchors because of the high pitch of their voices? It was understood that no one would take a woman seriously if she were reporting the news.
    How come feminists ignored her pro-contraceptive stance? How come we ignored her articulate words of being the parent of a Downs Syndrome child (if it weren’t for us feminists and liberals her son would still be denied medical care and an education. We fought that fight for Downs Syndrome people, and we won)

    How come we slam her relentlessly and make fun of her (as conservatives did to Hillary Clinton) and for some reason it’s ok to do so? I mean, I saw her fighting (and winning) powerful oil companies in Alaska to be exceptional. I saw her fight with the corrupt republican administration in Alaska to be tremendous.

    Why can’t women, who have fought for decades for the right to women to be who they are and run for office, so disdainful of this woman?

    Why can’t feminists congratulate ourselves over the fact that Palin came form modest means, was a recipient of Title IX and went on to become governor a source of pride.

    She hunts (many in Alaska do, including indigenous people there) and feeds her family form the meat. Would we slam a native American for doing this? No.

    I saw a slamming of her by feminists that resembled high school girl cliques from pre-women’s liberation days.

    Clearly, we slammed Madonna for dressing like a prostitute in the 1990s. We got over that. Now we have moved on to slamming women politicians.

    At 17% female representation in congress and7 female governors and zero women in the Oval Office is something to be ashamed of. Maybe we should start looking closely at women’s strengths and skills before slamming her for her voice and mannerisms and her daughters.

    And I know the law professsors here understand how tough the fight was. Well, we have four republican women senators and they are all pro-choice.
    This is something to capitalize on. This is where we increase our numbers. Yes, Palin maybe be anti abortion, but she is pro-contraception.

    Have we as feminsts thought about what it looks like to little girls when they see books and news that depict majority male leadership? How will we ever achieve parity? And how do those young girls and young women feel when we slam this Governor (who is young, vibrant and speaks her mind).

    I think of that. And I was ashamed.

    Good for Palin for going to Seneca Falls. Those women fought for all of us.

  13. Ann Bartow says:

    Palin doesn’t deserve the sexist crap that is thrown at her from both conservatives and the Supposedly Liberal Doods. No woman does. But she does not have much of a record of achievement in terms of advancing the status of women. If you think being “pro-contraception” is some big selling point, Goddess help us all.

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