A-ha! [Norwegian pop plays in the background.] This is what has Jessica Valenti's panties in a bunch.
If you recall, I went through Valenti's Washington Post Opinion article on Sunday. Valenti was mortified that Palin was using the language of feminism to push an anti-feminist agenda. As proof of the anti-feminism of the Palin agenda, Valenti pointed to positions on abortion (not a legislative issue), the opposition of undefined steps to address the salary gap, and gay rights (not a women's issue). It was not an ironclad argument.
Valenti may not be a statistical titan, but she certainly can't miss numbers like this. Obama wooed votes from married women by 3 points and single women by a whopping 39 points. The rise of Palin and the entire stable of solid GOP female candidates bring out Valenti's real fear: that women will defect from the Democrats in a way that undermines the DNC's coalition of disparate minority interests. The two highest-profile Republicans are still in primary races. Meg Whitman, former e-Bay CEO and Carly Fiorina, former HP CEO currently lead Republican races for California Governor and California Senator, respectively.
With so many high-profile Republican women rising through the ranks and a groundswell of conservative power rising up, Barack Obama may face a female challenger in 2012. How can any modern right-bashing feminist remain relevant when the first female occupant of the Oval Office hails from the GOP?
Here you have it, the real feminist agenda: destroy Republican women.
Showing posts with label Jessica Valenti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jessica Valenti. Show all posts
June 03, 2010
May 30, 2010
The Heretic and the Inquisitor
Today's Object of Ridicule and Scorn (and it's always a hard-fought battle on Sundays) is Jessica Valenti, whose opinion piece ran today in the Washington Post.
I’ve always been amazed at how liberals have been able to sell the march towards massive government control with the rhetoric of liberty. Normally I’d be impressed, but Jessica Valenti is a leading intellectual within the feminist movement, and she isn’t even close to compelling here.
In a country where women are in many positions of authority across both the public and private spheres and a basic cable package boasts no fewer than three channels programmed explicitly for women, the relevance of the march of feminism is severely limited. So Valenti and her ilk are relegated to peddling the politics of division. Much like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton act as poverty pimps for the black community, Valenti aspires to act as a discrimination pimp for women. Sarah Palin is dangerous because she is a model of astronomical female success built outside of the feminist framework of support.
Valenti leans heavily—though unintentionally—on the motif of the Church of Feminism, drawing a sharp line between “us” and “them.” Valenti casts herself as inquisitor. Feminist leaders like Gloria Steinem are like a council of elders. Sarah Palin is the heretic who has turned from the good word. Even the language of “the movement” is sacrosanct. The dogma is not open for adaptation or interpretation—only the elders can be entrusted with that responsibility.
I’ve always been amazed at how liberals have been able to sell the march towards massive government control with the rhetoric of liberty. Normally I’d be impressed, but Jessica Valenti is a leading intellectual within the feminist movement, and she isn’t even close to compelling here.
In a country where women are in many positions of authority across both the public and private spheres and a basic cable package boasts no fewer than three channels programmed explicitly for women, the relevance of the march of feminism is severely limited. So Valenti and her ilk are relegated to peddling the politics of division. Much like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton act as poverty pimps for the black community, Valenti aspires to act as a discrimination pimp for women. Sarah Palin is dangerous because she is a model of astronomical female success built outside of the feminist framework of support.
Valenti leans heavily—though unintentionally—on the motif of the Church of Feminism, drawing a sharp line between “us” and “them.” Valenti casts herself as inquisitor. Feminist leaders like Gloria Steinem are like a council of elders. Sarah Palin is the heretic who has turned from the good word. Even the language of “the movement” is sacrosanct. The dogma is not open for adaptation or interpretation—only the elders can be entrusted with that responsibility.
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