Sarah Palin: Feminist or Prostitute?

As early at the campaign of 2008 Sarah Palin declared herself to be a “feminist”.   She was specifically asked, “Do you consider yourself a Feminist?”  Litman, Rebuttal to the Rogue at 43.

Her answer was:

“ I do.  I’m a feminist who believes in equal rights. Someone who would not stand for oppression against women…I know that in a McCain-Palin administration we will not stand for any measure that would result in a woman being paid less than a man for equal work.”

The follow up question was “Why shouldn’t the Ledbetter Act (ensuring equal pay for women) be in place?”

Palin’s answer:  “It would have turned into a boon for trial lawyers.”   Id at 44.

The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act could only have been a “a boon for trial lawyers”  if employers were not paying women equally to their male counter-parts.  It is almost funny to think that we need a law to demand equal pay for women.  It is not funny that Sarah Palin portrays herself as a “feminist” and repeatedly damages the image and standing of American women.

What is a “feminist?”  It has been defined as a person who believes in “the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.”  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feminism.  It has been viewed as “the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men.” http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/feminism.

So, is Palin a feminist?  Consider her conduct and positions on issues:

1. Palin calls herself a “frontier feminist,” but she sounds more like a “Pat Robertson feminist.” The two of them are guided solely by their unshakeable certainty about what God wants.  http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/herb_silverman/2010/05/palin_a_pat_robertson_feminist.html.

Pat Robertson said:

“  Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”  http://thinkexist.com/quotations/feminism/

2.  Palin’s history of admittedly considering her “choice” when pregnant with Trig, and opposing abortion in all cases, is evidence that she is not a feminist.  Palin refuses to

“…recognize the countless deaths of women who knew their lives would be in danger unless they had an abortion, or the women who wanted to prevent their hopelessly deformed fetuses from being brought to term only to suffer and die soon afterward. Palin may sincerely believe that those dead pregnant women and deformed babies pleased God and today are frolicking in heaven, but that does not give her the right to feel morally superior to other women with very different theological views.”http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/herb_silverman/2010/05/palin_a_pat_robertson_feminist.html.

3.  During Palin’s term as mayor rape victims in Wasilla were required to pay for their rape exam kits. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-schmeltzer/palins-wasilla-to-rape-vi_b_125047.html.

4.  The premise of Sarah Palin’s Alaska is that Alaska is beautiful, rugged, unpredictable, and only the tough can survive… like Sarah Palin.  From fishing, killing animals, clubbing halibut, mountain climbing, white water rafting, driving a dog sled, and working as a lumberjack, Palin engaged in multiple activities that are traditionally associated with men.  Certainly there are women who engage in each of these activities, but the majority of people who do so, have traditionally been men. Alaska is rich in history of women who have achieved success in challenges traditionally reserved to men.  Susan Butcher and Libby Riddles are specific examples of such women. Each won the Iditarod. Dee Dee Jonrowe and Mary Shields both competed and finished the Iditarod competition.  http://library.thinkquest.org/11313/Iditarod/index.html.  They were each remarkable women. Sarah Palin is not.  Palin drove a dog sled in her TLC show, but did so as a novice. Nothing was mentioned on the TLC show about the accomplishments of women who actually won the Iditarod.

Picture susan butcher

Palin was seen “mountain climbing” with her beautiful nails, and complaining about the difficulty up the entire side of the hill.  Nothing was mentioned in Sarah Palin’s Alaska about women like Crista Brelsford who made the ultimate sacrifices for the people of Haiti, and still mountain climbs. https://malialitman.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/2995/.

Picture Crista Brelsford

Nothing was mentioned in the “reality” show about the 12 women described in the book More than Petticoats. These women included Mellie Lawing, a trapper, hunter, and musher, and Benzie Dow, who was the first woman to drive the Alcan Highway from Fairbanks to Dawson, delivering a load of cement in just seven days.  These 12 women actually expanded women’s roles by defying social norms and prejudices.  They didn’t do it by playing the flute in a beauty contest in Alaska, and they didn’t do it by having a man teach them to do something on a reality television show. http://www.amazon.com/More-than-Petticoats-Remarkable-Alaska/dp/0762737980.

In each of these new and rugged activities, it was a man who taught Sarah Palin how to complete the assigned task.  The guide on the white water rafting trip, the captain of the halibut boat, the person who taught her about dog sledding, and her hunting companions were all men.  There were men at every point, showing Palin how to complete the desired task.   Having been given instruction in the various skills, Palin may have undertaken to attempt them, but her success in each was minimal at best.  It was a man waiting at the top of the mountain as Palin pathetically attempted to climb a fairly insignificant hill.  It was a man who spotted her caribou, carried her gun, loaded her gun, and even cocked the gun for her.  Even then it took over five shots for Palin to hit the caribou which was standing still.  The clear message of the TLC show was that Palin was willing to undertake each of these challenges, but didn’t do any of them as well as her male teachers.  Her incentive in each endeavor was clearly money, instead of the true love of the activity.  The irony was blatant as Sarah boarded the RV.  She sat in the passenger seat and Todd sat behind the wheel.  She was depicted in the raft for the white water adventure, while Todd was watching Trig.  Sarah admitted she had never been white water rafting even though the river was only an hour from her home.  She wasn’t the guide, an experienced rafter was.  The “reality” was not apparent until the family returned to the RV and Todd took the wheel.

I don’t mind when my husband drives the car, but he knows that I can drive as well or better than he does.  When we went to Alaska on a vacation and had the opportunity to go dog sledding, I rode, and my husband drove. He is physically bigger,and stronger than I.  It was only logical that he should drive the sled.  My husband is an attorney, but I have more experience than he does at solving legal problems.  When he needs an attorney he relies on my judgment rather than his own.  “Feminism” is the recognition of the skills and strength that each person possesses regardless of the sex.  Both my husband and I are “feminists.”

Contrast the definition of a “feminist” with that of a prostitute.  A prostitute is defined as:

“a person who willingly uses his or her talent or ability in an unworthy manner, usually for money.            http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prostitute; http://www.learnersdictionary.com/search/prostitute.

Palin’s “talent” or “ability” seems to be attractiveness and charisma.  She uses them not for the public good, but for personal profit.  Making money is not something to be critical of, unless of course it comes at too high a price for someone else.  America pays the price for Palin’s financial success.  The damage she has done to the country is profound.  It comes at a particularly vulnerable moment in our history.  The damage done by Sarah Palin to the image of the American woman is equally profound.  “Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good.” http://www.basicjokes.com/dquotes.php?cid=19.  “Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards and in high heels.”  ~Faith Whittlesey.  “There are very few jobs that actually require a penis or vagina.  All other jobs should be open to everybody.”  ~Florynce Kennedy.

By resigning as Governor, Palin let women down.  By writing on her hand while criticizing the President for using a teleprompter she embarrassed women.  By suggesting we should build dikes in the Gulf to stop the oil leak, she humiliated women.  By having five children, and then abandoning them, she inspires outrage in mothers.  By appearing on national television, promoting herself as skilled and capable to do tasks normally associated with men, and failing to do them as well as men,  Palin has proved that she pales in camparison.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJurFdI0ZQ4.  She has established herself as willing to embarrass herself, and women, for the sake of money.  It seems that is the definition of a “prostitute”.

John McCain empowered the prostitute by nominating her as Vice President.  He made it possible for her to find lots of clients who would pay her significant amounts of money to take advantage of her. Now TLC continues the promotion of Sarah Palin to reap the financial reward of the prostitution of Sarah Palin.