Honestly, I wish after all the breakthroughs in this election we could finally start to be done with all the ‘isms’. Including feminism, racism, socialism, conservatism, liberalism…

I’m particularly done with Democrat-ism and Republican-ism… toss ‘em all out and lets start again…

The sooner we get to just ‘people’ the better.

Can you believe she struck her own father?

I absolutely HATED most of my women’s studies at UMBC, mainly because of the professors and the stupid curriculum, so I understand why people don’t dig feminism. I was always more attracted to race and poverty issues than I was for gender issues, but I don’t think feminism should get as bad as a rap as it does.

Just like Afrocentrism, Eurocentrism, etc… feminism or womanism is just the study of the world from a woman’s perspective. I think women have different and unique perspectives on the world, but unfortunately throughout history their voices were often silenced, so there has now been a resurgence of interest in history, politics, education, you name it from womens’ perspectives. I’m sure Women’s Studies classes at Harvard are far better than UMBC’s, but that’s another post.

The conservative woman’s viewpoint should be heard and represented more in the feminist/women’s studies realm, but they are often left out.

Okay, okay, maybe I should have said that I detest her viewpoints, just like I detest Hilary’s viewpoints on many things. I wouldn’t mind going camping with her at all…maybe she could teach me how to roast a mooseburger over the fire. But as a politician and leader of the people I have virtually no respect for her. No street cred with me there. Sarah Palin certainly has a role in feminist/womanist history though.

~Tara

Many great men and women were lousy husbands, wives and parents. Some were rude to their neighbors and others drove their employees or soldiers to death. Some owned slaves. I think it was Spurgeon’s (sorry if it was another famous preacher) wife who said that he loved God so much he neglected his own marriage, even though he preached on the virtues of a ‘godly’ marriage.

I like what a female comic once said about heroes. She said that she had little use for the action hero type or the romantic leading man. She said that a real hero is someone who can come home from work to the same wife and kids everyday while staring a 30 year mortgage in the face. Of course the same thing can be said of women heroes.

Christian Beyers last blog post..There Oughta Be a Law

And your point, Bill? She sounds like a woman who is making it in a man’s world, like most politicians, Left or Right, and most business people. Isn’t that the goal of militant feminism?

As far as the glass ceiling goes – it’s a myth. Taken as a percentage of those in the work force, there are more women CEO’s and more women business owners than men. And when you factor in the time that women have taken off to raise families they actually earn more on average than men do. And it only makes sense, because business’s main focus is profitability and on average women are more productive, more dependable and more loyal in the workplace (they show up more often on Monday mornings.)The bottom line cares nothing for gender.

Christian Beyers last blog post..There Oughta Be a Law

Re Michelle, after parsing media from all perspectives I’m left with a picture of a bitter, angry, extremist with strong ties to some very nasty radicals.

Re Palin, I’ve seen a bunch of letters and reports describing her as an authentic, honest person. Her approval rating, I think, speaks to that. Certainly there is evidence that she doesn’t put up with people crossing her. Perhaps there could have been better ways to handle those situations. The truth about her personality lies in the totality of all reports.

Now a role model… how about Cindy McCain. Now there’s someone who has devoted their life to the benefit of others. What ever one thinks about her husband, you can’t deny she’s an awesome woman. Not a perfect life, but who’s is?

I find it interesting that the women I respect most, the ones I admire for their strength, courage, integrity and wisdom are all diametrically opposite of Gloria Stienem, Barbara Streisand, Hillary Clinton and Michele Obama. I can respect those women as powerful, influential women (except maybe Babs..) but they certainly don’t represent the totality of what it means to be a feminist as they might have you believe… and I DEFINITELY would not encourage my daughter to use any of them as a role model (especially not Babs).

By this definition, I consider myself a feminist and I suspect you are, too. Title IX is a result of the feminist movement and one of the reasons the USA did so well in Bejing–especially in womens team sports. When my kids were growing up, my son had community football, basketball, etc. My daughters had nothing. Today, due to Title IX, girls have community soccer, basketball, softball, etc.

I am a feminist even though I did not choose to support EITHER of the prominent female candidates this year. Equal rights does not mean preference.

Do you feel that a feminist, or a strong woman leader, needs to conform to a litmus test of ideology? Or can she be an independent thinker, conservative, liberal, libertarian, green party, executive, stay at home mom, missionary, CEO?

Or do you only recognize as ‘feminist’ strong women that share a particular set of values?

Regardless of what you think of her politics, she has indeed added to the face of feminism. For me ‘feminism’ has always carried a negative connotation. I think Palin broadens what it means to be a strong, independent woman. I would prefer my daughter use her as a role model (she already does) than some other more stereotypical feminists from the NOW mold.

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BTW: Here’s an example of someone who detests Sarah Palin… I’m sure you don’t want to be grouped in with her… real nice…

Christian Beyers last blog post..Mother Yes, Pastor No, President Maybe

I didn’t agree with Bill Clinton on much of anything. I’ll bet it would have been fun to share a beer with him though. I’d rather go camping with him than Carter or GWB.

Brand new style of muscular American feminism and not only that, since Madonna? Quite a claim.

Haha not too much fair and balanced discussion from me on Palin since I detest the woman. I do agree about the paradox thing so I will give her that