In an interview yesterday, current feminist media darling and America’s de facto birth control spokesperson Sandra Fluke confessed that she’ds been receiving requests to run for public office– and that it wasn’t something she had totally ruled out. Via HuffPo:
“Numerous American women have actually written to me in the last few weeks to say that I should run for office,” Fluke noted during a panel discussion on women’s history hosted by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.). “And maybe someday I will. But for now, I actually have to finish law school.”
While I appreciate the subversive quality of a “slut” slur catapulting a woman into a position of power, I’m not sure how to feel about the idea of Sandra in a leadership position just yet. I agree with her stance on birth control, and don’t know much else about her politics.
But Eesha has written really eloquently about the “birth control divide”. As she rightly points out, when advocates like Sandra Fluke make a point of saying that they’re talking about private funding dollars and not federal dollars, they reinforce the idea that there it’s more controversial to use federal money for reproductive health care. As Eesha put it, ” they are doing a grave disservice to those women who rely on federal money for health care…That’s not reproductive rights, it does not fully support reproductive choice, it’s a short-sighted strategy and I would argue it’s not a feminist position at all.”
Since I’m feeling so ambivalent, I’ll put the question to you, readers. This week’s weigh-in centers on centrism:
If Sandra Fluke ran for office, would she be a feminist candidate you’d feel proud to call your own?
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