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Feminists on the Left? Bah, Humbug!

By pm317 on June 13, 2009 at 8:10 PM in Current Affairs

Feminists on the Left, who needs them? The lines below dripping with condescension and elitism came from a blog that calls itself “Feminist Law Professors.” Good luck to them. I don’t think they will make much progress with this attitude.

Ugh. Enjoy the great many cringe-worthy moments in this article about Sarah Palin’s recent trip to feminist landmarks in upstate New York here

Granted that this is one blogger’s opinion but I am sure there are many others like her.

Hillary Clinton was a “I will vote for a woman but not this woman” candidate for many of these feminists, especially the younger generation some of whom even think they are post-feminists. What a way to repay Hillary’s generation for all the work they did to make these people’s lives easier.

Sarah Palin is the wrong kind of “woman” in these people’s view and many don’t even know why except that she is a “Republican.” She is a caricature made beyond recognition of her true self by ridicule, condescension, and even derision from most on the left. If they did not actively indulge in it, they are complicit in their silence.

Leaving aside her politics and its distortion, how is the fact that they are trying to silence her through ridicule and condescension going to help advance women? Let us not forget that many of these so called feminists were silent then and now about the shenanigans of the political class in ousting Hillary from the race for the presidency. What is galling is that there is no pain, no hurt felt among these people in having lost that grand opportunity to elect the first woman president. Like good girls, most of them fell in line to vote for Obama after the primary if not before.

Remember Gloria Steinem saying in her article that she would support whoever is the Democratic nominee — she was already covering her behind if Obama got nominated. Never mind that she had earlier said that a woman of his qualifications would be laughed out of the race. So why did they not take a stand to reject his candidacy altogether when they had a good alternative in Hillary? Why did they not take on the political establishment on behalf of women for women? Well, it is a little too late now for all of this but given their record, I wish they would recede into the woodwork and stop going after Palin.

We don’t have the luxury in numbers for this type of in fighting. Let us get women of all persuasions in big numbers into leadership positions. Let us help them craft their message that will help advance all women. Let us seek common ground and maximize our collective strength.

Let us stop the witch hunt and hounding of Palin.

I for one will wait for her to settle into her new found role as a woman with a voice and visibility and listen to what she has to say before I ever call for her silence.