Sarah Palin is My Feminist Hero and Other Half Truths

Note:  This post is long, potentially boring, and an example of how easily I am swayed by autobiographies.  Maybe I'm a sucker, but I respect Sarah Palin a little more than I used to, and I'm gonna tell you why. 

My reading list this summer has been incredibly fluffy.  I must confess that one of the more substantial books I read this summer has been Sarah Palin's autobiography: Going Rogue (this tells you what kind of summer I've been having).  Now as you may or may not have deduced from my blog/knowing me/knowing my parents, I am a pretty liberal lady.  But I also love playing Devil's Advocate, and quite frankly, pissing off other liberals on occasion.   Maybe this makes me annoying, but I prefer to think of it as keeping others from becoming complacent.  It took me about 5 months to figure out how I felt about mountain top removal, and I get frustrated when others, liberal and conservative, seem to stumble into their beliefs without questioning anything.

So maybe it was my desire to challenge myself (obviously not reading-wise), or a response to my recent trip to Alaska that inspired me to check Going Rogue out of the library.

I'll confess, I read the entire book, but read the parts when Palin talks about abortion, God, and big government much much faster (aka skimmed them) than I read the parts about her family, her role in Alaska state politics, and her childhood.

Here is a quick summary of my conclusions:

Conclusion Number 1:  Sarah Palin is, indeed a feminist, and not a ploy by the patriarchy to set the women's rights movement back by making female politicians look stupid, as I had once expected.

Explanation:  Sarah may not be pro-life, but she hasn't let traditional gender roles keep her out of politics.  She managed to be an attentive mother (although I think she neglected Bristol a little in my humble, what-do-I-know-I've-never-raised-kids opinion) at the same time that she was kicking the Old Boys' Club out of Alaskan politics, and on the campaign trail.

Which leads me to...

Conclusion Number 2:  Sarah Palin was a much better politician in Alaska than she was in national politics.


Explanation:  (Also further explanation of Conclusion Number 1): She didn't let rich, powerful men push her around.  Her administration managed to get rid of a lot of corrupt folks in the Alaskan legislature.  Not to mention that even though I don't really agree with her "Drill baby, drill" attitude, she didn't take any bull crap from Big Oil when it came to drilling contracts, and tried to prioritize Alaskan or Canadian companies who were employing Alaskans to work at oil sites.  


Conclusion Number 3:  Sarah Palin was royally screwed by the media.  Because she was a woman.


Explanation: So Sarah Palin may not be the brightest crayon in the box, but she isn't as stupid as the media portrayed her.  Also, according to her, the quote wasn't "You can see Russia from my house," it was something more like "In parts of Alaska (the Aleutians) you can see Russia."  This was in response to an interview about the role Alaska played globally.  Okay, so that might have not been the most relevant response to the question (I would have mentioned oil and fish first, but I don't think I'll ever be in that position), but whatever.


A better example of this would be the flack that she took for being a mother on the presidential campaign trail.  The media probably wouldn't have criticized a father for trying to further his career.  Especially since Sarah's children came with her.  Again, I don't have kids, but I still see a double standard. 


My favorite example (and one that Palin regretfully forgot to mention in her book) is Who's Nailin' Palin, which is in case you are unfamiliar (don't even ask how I am familiar, it's not a very good story), is the only example of pornography (according to a friend) where you fast forward through the sex scenes to hear the dialogue.  Would the porn industry make a film called "Who's Layin' McCain" or one about Obama (sorry I can't come up with a clever name)?  Okay, maybe they would, because if you can imagine it, there's probably porn about it.  But it's much less likely, and much less likely that it would end up in the hands of college freshmen all over America, because Obama and McCain are men.  People can look at men in positions of power, and ignore the fact that they are sexual beings.  Women in positions of power however, are sexualized or mocked for not being sexy enough, or for being tough, or seeming cold.  It just ain't fair folks.


So if you made it through this post, congratulations.  I wouldn't recommend Going Rogue for the writing, or for the political opinions, but it does shed some insights onto Alaska, what it's like being a vice presidential candidate for the Republican party, and the enigma (jk, she's not really an enigma) that is Sarah Palin.