Opinion Pieces Examine Conservative 'Feminism'

Opinion pieces in the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times examined issues related to former Alaska Gov. and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's recent speech to the Susan B. Anthony List. Summaries appear below.

~ Nancy Cohen, Los Angeles Times: Palin said in her speech that recent polls show "more Americans proudly proclaiming themselves as pro-life." According to historian and author Cohen, although Palin is "not entirely wrong, ... that doesn't mean she's right." Cohen writes that "this new conventional wisdom ... stems from misleading media reporting abetted by partisan hype." She adds that "the three polls on which the so-called trend in public opinion is based include one outlier and two with inconclusive results," making the "complete picture ... nuanced." According to Cohen, "A majority of Americans do not want to see abortion criminalized, but the nation is evenly divided between those who call themselves pro-life and those who call themselves pro-choice." However, the antiabortion-rights movement "seems to be winning the framing war with its 'pro-life' label," as "'pro-choice' has turned into a tone-deaf rallying cry," she continues. The phrase "pro-choice" is "inadequate to our actual policy preferences and to the philosophical values Americans hold on the subject of abortion," Cohen writes. She adds, "It essentially cedes the moral high ground to the antiabortion movement" and "doesn't do enough to communicate ... the belief that, in a free and democratic nation, the decision to have a child should rest with the individual woman and those with whom she freely consults." Cohen continues, "Perhaps 'pro-choice' was once good enough shorthand for liberty, human dignity, individualism, pluralism, self-government and women's equality," but "anyone who thinks it is still self-sufficient ... hasn't been paying attention" (Cohen, Los Angeles Times, 5/29).

~ Jessica Valenti, Washington Post: Palin's recent adoption of the term "feminist" is "not a realization of the importance of women's rights" but "part of a larger conservative move to woo women," Valenti, an author and founder of the blog Feministing, writes. "Just as consumer culture tries to sell 'Girls Gone Wild'-style sexism as 'empowerment,' conservatives are trying to sell anti-women policies shrouded in pro-women rhetoric," Valenti continues. She adds, "But, of course, Palin isn't a feminist -- not in the slightest." Valenti writes that what Palin calls "the emerging conservative feminist identity" is actually "an empty rallying call to women who are disdainful of or apathetic to women's rights, who want to make abortion and emergency contraception illegal, who would cut funding to the Violence Against Women Act and who fight same-sex marriage rights." 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 writes. Palin's brand of feminism is "a manipulated buzzword being used to garner support for a party that time and time again votes against women's rights," she continues, adding that "feminists -- or anyone who cares about women's progress -- need to stop Palin from turning feminism into yet another empty slogan" (Valenti, Washington Post, 5/30).


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