right now, this fundamental transformation of America, well, a lot of women who are very concerned about their kids’ future are saying, ‘We don’t like this fundamental transformation and we’re gonna do something about it” (Palin, 2010). This healthcare bill, together with an overspending administration, are therefore the object of Palin’s harsh criticism: “these policies coming out of D.C. When We Moms Awaken: The “Mama Grizzly” MystiqueĤ While addressing an audience composed of more than five hundred antiabortion activists, Palin was very adamant about the need to oppose the healthcare reform proposed by President Obama, on the basis of it not banning the federal funding of abortion. conservative tendency to appropriate feminism in order to validate a culture of life, I will explore Palin’s use of the terms “mama grizzly” and “conservative feminism” as a vocabulary aiming to reinstate an idealized and institutionalized motherhood, striving as well to underpin patriotic values such as American exceptionalism. This essay will address the need to discuss, from a critical perspective, the issues raised by Sarah Palin’s speech so as to demonstrate that feminism is still indispensable in the USA. As stated by Molly Ladd-Taylor, the uncertainty generated by economic recession, war and terrorism, is “leading people back to the perceived security of the home”, which threatens to restore archaic conventional values (Ladd-Taylor, 2004: 11). As we are currently overwhelmed by a severe financial crisis, issues that have always affected American women, such as unequal payment and the lack of proper work-family support are gradually worsening. Although I agree with Paglia’s claim that “eminism, which should be about equal rights and equal opportunity, should not be a closed club requiring an ideological litmus test for membership” (Paglia, 2008a), I understand Palin’s conservative feminism as a symptom of her conservative agenda, seeking to reinforce traditional values instead of protecting women’s rights.ģ Believing that ours is a post-feminist era, and that every problem has already been solved, is itself a problem.
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By rejecting a former “victim feminism” (Wolf, 1993), post-feminism perceives women as fully empowered subjects whose lives are a direct result of their own free choices, welcoming a “do whatever you want” approach and providing enough space to accommodate Palin’s pro-life conservative feminism.
3 Post-feminism, as Nancy Whittier puts it, is not about negating feminism or neglecting the efforts of earlier feminists, understanding instead that the battle has already been won (Whittier, 1995: 227). In addition to substituting collective action for individualist stances, post-feminists reject the essentialist positioning of second-wave feminism, especially in terms of sexuality, politicization of personal matters, and reproduction rights. 3 For a complete and thorough account of contemporary feminisms, see Showden (2009).Ģ Paglia’s statement, albeit seemingly absurd and contradictory, is actually in line with a contemporary post-feminist reasoning, boundless in its acceptance of multiple ideological standpoints.
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Camille Paglia, a pro-choice Democrat and a prominent contemporary feminist, has already expressed her fascination with Palin, seeing her as “an explosion of a brand new style of muscular American feminism” (Paglia, 2008a), adding that Palin, “as a pro-life wife, mother and ambitious professional represents the next big shift in feminism” (Paglia, 2008b). 2 In spite of Palin’s conservative positioning – against same-sex marriage, pro-life, pro-abstinence, and a devoted member of the National Rifle Association – she considers herself a conservative feminist or, in her own words, a “tough gun-toting pioneering feminist” (Palin, 2010). Though the main goal of Palin’s speech was completely political, seeking to gather votes for the midterm elections in November 2010 and making sure that Washington would be overwhelmed by an “invasion of pink elephants” 1 (Palin, 2010), it actually caused a much heated debate on issues such as motherhood, reproductive rights, women in U.S.
Anthony List (or SBA List), a pro-life group seeking to elect antiabortion candidates for political office.