Is Sarah Palin a Feminist? Friday Feminist Fuck NO.

This week, Miriam and I teamed up again to say “fuck no!” to the claim that Sarah Palin is a feminist candidate.

Transcript after the jump.
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Ann: Welcome to the second double-trouble edition of the Friday Feminist Fuck You. This week we’re super excited that conservatives have finally acknowledged that sexism exists! Bravo for that. But we’re not super happy about the fact that, because she’s a woman, people are saying that Sarah Palin is a feminist. So this week we attempt to answer the question: Is Sarah Palin a feminist? Making this a Friday Feminist..
Ann & Miriam: Fuck NO.
Ann: First off, it’s great to have more women at higher levels of politics. No matter what their ideology, we’re excited about that. But it does sort of rub me the wrong way when they talk about her having broken the glass ceiling, because Geraldine Ferraro broke this particular glass ceiling with a vice-presidential nomination in 1984. Like most things related to women’s rights, conservatives are only about two and a half decades behind.
Miriam: We also want to make the point that just because you benefit from feminism doesn’t make you a feminist. The fact that Sarah Palin is where she is today is because of all the work of feminists, that doesn’t mean she’s automatically a member of the club.
We’ve got two main reasons we want to emphasize about why Sarah Palin is definitely not a feminist. First, she obviously opposes the right to choose anything other than having your child or giving it up for adoption. And even if you decide to have the child, she doesn’t want to support you, unless you happen to be in a position of privilege like her own daughter. She cut funding for a local shelter in Alaska for pregnant teens, during her tenure. She’s not a supporter of the right to choose abortion, even if you have been raped or are a victim of incest. Definitely not a feminist stance.
Ann: No. Also, there’s been a lot of talk about the fact that she’s a working mom, which we think is awesome. More power to you if you can balance raising your children with a high-powered career. However, it’s not exactly feminist that she’s not supported other working mothers. She’s on the ticket with John McCain, who supports businesses’ right to discriminate on the basis of gender. Who opposed increased funding for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. And who also supported cuts to the Family and Medical Leave Act — he was not a strong ally of this program, which is key for working mothers.
We really want to drive home the point that just because a candidate is a woman, like Sarah Palin, does not mean she’s a woman’s candidate. So… is Sarah Palin a feminist candidate?
Miriam: Fuck no.

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