At 02:50 PM 9/5/2008, Doug Henwood wrote:
>[not sure whether this would pass the Catron sexism test]
>
><http://jezebel.com/5045934/why-sarah-palin-incites-near+violent-rage-in-normally-reasonable-women
> >
>
>VEEPSTAKES PRIZE
>Why Sarah Palin Incites Near-Violent Rage In Normally Reasonable Women
>
>I don't like Sarah Palin. Maybe you noticed already! But I don't like
>any politician who is diabolically anti-choice, who chases wolves down
>in aircraft only to shoot them when they tire, who supports tearing up
>the environment and increasingly privatized health care. What I've
>written on this site about Palin so far has been pretty restrained,
>considering what I feel for her privately could be described as
>violent, nay, murderous, rage. When Palin spoke on Wednesday night, my
>head almost exploded from the incandescent anger boiling in my skull.
>And I'm not the only one! I had simultaneous IM conversations with
>many friends, who said things like, "she seems like a fucking monster"
>and "this feminist wants to murk that idiotic cunt."
>
>The tone of the comments on our Palin acceptance speech live blog was
>pretty similar; in fact, this comment says it all: "I want to punch
>her in the face and ruin her shit. Fuck her for ruining this historic
>moment. THANKS SARAH, THE HOTTEST VP."
>
>And the question now is why? Why does this particular pitbull in
>lipstick infuriate — and scare us — so viscerally? Why does her very
>existence make us feel — and act — so ugly? New York Times columnist
>Judith Warner calls Palin's nomination a "thoroughgoing humiliation
>for America's women," because "Palin's not intimidating, and makes it
>clear that she's subordinate to a great man." Palin, who obviously is
>incredibly ambitious, masks that ambition behind her PTA placard and
>"folksy" talk. In the oft-replayed tape from earlier this summer, when
>asked about the Vice Presidency, Palin notoriously said, '"I'm used to
>bein' very productive and workin' real hard in an administration and
>we want to make sure that that 'V.P.' slot would be a fruitful type of
>position."
>
>I think what Ms. Warner is dancing around, but not saying outright, is
>that for a certain kind of feminist, Palin is a symbol for everything
>we hoped was not true in the world anymore. We hoped that we didn't
>have to hide our ambition or pretend that our goals were effortlessly
>achieved ("I never really set out to be in public affairs, much less
>to run for this office," the Governor has said.) We hoped that we
>could be mothers without having our motherhood be our defining
>characteristic, as it seems to be for Palin. We hoped that we did not
>have to be perfect beauty queens to get to where we wanted to be in
>life, that our looks, good or bad, wouldn't matter. Whether or not you
>think it's appropriate to comment on Palin's appearance, the fact of
>her attractiveness exists, and is being used to her advantage by
>Republican sloganeers ("the hottest Governor in the coldest state,"
>et. al).
>
>Keith Olbermann called Sarah Palin "Tracy Flick" after her speech on
>Wednesday, and I think that's not a perfect parallel. Tracy, while
>completely ruthless (as Palin has shown herself to be so far with that
>nasty community organizer comment), never hid her ambition behind a
>polished veneer — it was as plain as the bows in her hair. No, I think
>the correct high school stereotype is of the homecoming queen. For
>many of us looking back at high school, we can now feel a smug
>superiority towards the homecoming queen. Sure, she was pretty and
>popular in high school, catering to the whims of boys and cheering on
>their hockey games, but what happened to her after high school? Often,
>she popped out some kids and ended up toiling in some not particularly
>impressive job. We can look back and say, we might have been ambitious
>nerds in high school, but it ultimately paid off. What's infuriating,
>and perhaps rage-inducing, about Palin, is that she has always
>embodied that perfectly pleasing female archetype, playing by the
>boys' game with her big guns and moose-murdering, and that she keeps
>being rewarded for it. Our schadenfreude for the homecoming queen's
>mediocrity has turned into white hot anger at her continued dominance.
>
>2:00 PM on Fri Sep 5 2008
>By Jessica
>
>___________________________________
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