sexist cover, accurate headline

(PRNewsFoto/NEWSWEEK)
Sarah Palin hit back at Newsweek today for using a photo of her in running shorts (pulled from a shoot she did for Runner’s World) on the cover of their latest issue. Palin said that it was sexist to use a photo of her in such an informal outfit with her legs exposed out of context. I agree with this. I think it is incredibly sexist to expose her in this way, especially since they aren’t talking about her running routine, they are talking about her as a politician, her policies, her professional life. This is wrong. She is not the first panned politician in the world, and were it a man in this position (say…George Bush, Rod Blagojevich, etc.) would they ever be put on the cover of a news magazine in shorts? Don’t think so.
Although I agree with Palin’s argument about the use of the photo, I don’t agree with most anything else she says. Even the fact that she decries this photo as sexist and yet is against reproductive rights for women and other feminist-based policies is a contradiction to me. Just another example of conservatives conveniently co-opting feminist ideologies when it suits their agendas. Sorry, in my book you are not allowed to rail against sexism only when it serves your political aims and then completely drop it (or totally reject it) when dealing with policies that actually affect real women. I say, FAIL to Newsweek and Sarah Palin.