Ross Douthat tries to understand teh sexism.

24 thoughts on Ross Douthat tries to understand teh sexism.

1. “She was attacked for her looks and for her family choices in a way that male politicians aren’t —”

   I’m not sure I get this. How were her looks “attacked”? By the assumption that her looks were all she has going for her?

   See John Edwards, inter alia.

2. “it represents an ugly truth in the same way as GWB’s rise — it’s the idea that a class of people, no matter how foolish or lazy, deserves access to power simply by virtue of being born a particular color and in a particular social class”

   the class part doesn’t fit here. bush, and Quayle for that matter, were perceived as lacking gravitas and intelligence but got by because they were part of the wasp elite. palin in contrast, was from a middle to working class background, and maintained the cultural traits of that class even through her governship and VP candidacy: evangelical religion, 5 kids, pro-life, hunting, hyper-patriotic, athletic husband, quirky provincial accent, etc.

   add to that her gender and you have the makings of a great American anti-privilege story. i thought her speech at the rnc, when she absolutely took it to Barack Obama, mocking him like he’s a fraud and his followers were fools, was a great moment in feminism…especially if your feminism is relatively non-political like mine. to see a woman effectively mock the Great Man like that was just wow.

   but i can understand how those whose feminism is deeply entwined with their leftism would choose to miss that point. its a little sad though.

3. Will Wilkinson, a libertarian blogger and Cato Institute scholar, made a comment during the campaign regarding Palin that I thought to be 100% accurate. He said:

   “Palin exudes sexual confidence and maternal authority, which in a relatively conservative culture like ours is the most recognizable and viscerally comprehensible form of female power. It makes a lot of men uncomfortable, but that’s because it’s the kind of female power they are most often subject to, and most often fail to successfully resist. I spent much of my life taking orders from women a lot like Sarah Palin — women like my mother and my Iowa public school teachers. Indeed, it makes a lot more emotional sense for me to feel led by a woman like that than by some hotshot Air Force pilot. When a guy with a buzzcut says “jump,” I say “screw you.” When a woman like Sarah Palin says “jump,” I am inclined to deferentially inquire into the requirements of this jump.”

   There is no doubt that John McCain was counting on just this type of appeal when he selected Palin during the campaign.

   When I left the Republican Party, it was due to the religiosity of the Right generally, and I think Palin was an utter disaster in states like Colorado, where you have many social liberals who also are economic conservatives. As time wore on, she reminded me of just another local community leader who takes the pious stand, but has all the terrible kids who are always in trouble.

4. Just for the record, I’m pretty sure feminism does not mean aping the worst behaviors of men.

5. Yeah, it is really sad when a unqualified candidate who would eviscerate equal pay, reproductive freedom, and regulatory protections for working women gets called out as the cynical, fraudulent choice she was by a desperately flailing GOP presidential campaign seeking to capitalize on the recent primary loss by Senator Clinton. Also.

6. palin in contrast, was from a middle to working class background, and maintained the cultural traits of that class even through her governship and VP candidacy: evangelical religion, 5 kids, pro-life, hunting, hyper-patriotic, athletic husband, quirky provincial accent, etc.

   add to that her gender and you have the makings of a great American anti-privilege story.

   Yeah, anti-privilege…with white privilege sauce.

   Seriously, the way you ignore race and racism here is pretty interesting, especially given how much drum-beating went on among Palin’s supporters about seekrit Muslims, “inadequate black male”, “I’m scared of him because he’s an Arab”, etc.

   Also, I’m not up on American class demographics but I’m pretty sure you can’t just swap in religion (fundamentalist Protestantism) for class.

7. On the contrary, I think attractive male politicians DO play up their appearance at least as much as Palin. John Edwards, for example. They play “perfect” masculinity within a very narrow, charming-but-not-too charming pitch, well-dressed but certainly never enough to appear possibly gay, etc. The cost for a male politician defying the norms of masculinity in favor of more “feminine” dress or speech are just as steep as a woman who denies “proper” feminine behavior.

   As for the “anyone could” aspect of Palin’s story–well, what if she *wasn’t* so attractive or so white? What if an “uppity” black woman from the inner city who didn’t practice femininity and had a “provincial accent” from HER background tried to run for POTUS?

   Yeah, that’s what I thought.

   That said, I dislike Mr. Douhat (is it childish to want to call him Douchehat? probably) more with each passing column.

8. “Just for the record, I’m pretty sure feminism does not mean aping the worst behaviors of men.”

   why not? shouldn’t women be free to start wars, ruthlessly build great companies, destroy the competition, be greedy, cruel, and Machiavellian?

   now, i understand as a progressive you might think these things are horrible and I as a conservative may think them wonderful; but shouldn’t our feminism unite us in wanting women to have the freedom to engage in these things without thier womanhood or feminism coming into question?

   i think in this sense feminism as both a rights movement and political movement are incompatible. after all, having the freedom of choice only to be a progressive is very little freedom indeed.

9. Shorter Manju: Symbols are infinitely more important than political reality. But, if as advertised, s/he is a conservative, that’s hardly surprising, as most recent public policy proposals advanced by conservatives have led to a appreciable decline in standards of living and hundreds of thousands of people dying in a war predicated on lies.

10. “Yeah, anti-privilege…with white privilege sauce.”

    Yes, which is why i said the class part doen’t fit, implying that the race part does.

11. The cost for a male politician defying the norms of masculinity in favor of more “feminine” dress or speech are just as steep as a woman who denies “proper” feminine behavior.

    Although there’s a huge difference between Edwards being called the Breck girl and HRC getting grief for having breasts. The differences get even more pronounced when you’re talking about personality traits, like forcefulness.

12. Pingback: Elites Can Talk About Class, Gender, Meritocracy and Elitism, But Can They Tap Dance? « Around The Sphere

13. I’m just confused about Douhat’s false dichotomy between democracy and meritocracy. It kind of really doesn’t make sense unless you do insert race and affirmative action. I mean, it’s not like it didn’t take *merit* to become governor of Alaska, right? “Meritocracy” just seems to be conservicode for “elite white liberals and the minorities to whom they undemocratically give scholarships.”

    That aside, I do think that Palin is fascinating because she brings out the worst in everyone: racism in the conservatives; sexism, classism, and religious discrimination in the liberals.

14. Douthat’s dichotomy is an attempt at critiquing liberal democracy and technocratic rule from the right. Mostly from Straussian perspective, I think, in that he does’t really believe that Palin deserves to wield power, and that he believes the presidency is shadow puppeted anyways (probably his defense against believing in Obama’s competence).

    As for Palin herself, well, many of you know I was a pretty staunch proponent of leaving her to fend for herself. I very much didn’t believe that women like Palin merited defense from feminists, for both practical and moral reasons. Practically speaking, she was subverting feminist concepts for nonfeminist goals and generally making the world a worse place for women (and men) for personal profit. Morally, I believed that such a *unilateral* defense of women is both patronizing and eventually subject to “wandering murderer” quandaries. A sentiment that is appropriate for lawyers is not always appropriate for feminists.

    The sooner this clown is gone from the political scene, the better.

15. Ah, I should have mentioned, the harm that antifeminist attacks on Palin which accrues to women is a sunk cost. Palin was an embodiment of antifeminism and part of her role was most definitly to make public critiques of women in power legitimate and sensible.

    If this wasn’t the case, McCain would have had a Peggy, a Maria, a Meg, or a Christine be his running mate should he think a woman on the ticket was a good idea.

16. Manju
    The sentence: Just for the record, I’m pretty sure feminism does not mean aping the worst behaviors of men. doesn’t necessarily mean the right of women to be Conservative or Liberal. It means [to me] women should not simply mimic the worst behavior in men regarding how they treat women. In other words, if men are misogynistic it’s probably best for women not to simply reverse the tables and be anti-male. Of course it too means not starting wars, not instituting slavery and not lying, cheating and stealing.
    I would say one group should learn from another group how not to act as much as how to act. Men got [and get] many things wrong. Maybe women can improve on that. And, yeah, if they want to be Republican that should be more than acceptable.

17. Yes, which is why i said the class part doen’t fit, implying that the race part does.

    Okay, but a white person running for the banal white supremacist vote is not exactly an “anti-privilege” candidate.

18. “Just for the record, I’m pretty sure feminism does not mean aping the worst behaviors of men.”

    why not? shouldn’t women be free to start wars, ruthlessly build great companies, destroy the competition, be greedy, cruel, and Machiavellian?

    now, i understand as a progressive you might think these things are horrible and I as a conservative may think them wonderful; but shouldn’t our feminism unite us in wanting women to have the freedom to engage in these things without thier womanhood or feminism coming into question?

    Er. Sort of. I mean, I don’t think that a woman who engages in those things should be torn down by virtue of her being a woman, but given that I object to men doing most of those things, why would I want to encourage or accept a woman doing them? Cruelty isn’t a trait that I encourage or accept in other people, period. And, really, I wasn’t aware that conservatives were actually endorsing and claiming cruelty as a positive trait now. You actually think that being cruel is a wonderful thing?

19. thought her speech at the rnc, when she absolutely took it to Barack Obama, mocking him like he’s a fraud and his followers were fools, was a great moment in feminism…especially if your feminism is relatively non-political like mine. to see a woman effectively mock the Great Man like that was just wow.

    Ooooh, yeah, sneering at community organizers and mocking people for trying to MAKE A DIFFERENCE in their communities is such a brave, wonderful feminist act.

    Jesus Christ, are you going to tell me that kicking puppies is a “great moment in feminism” too?

20. I am all for defending Palin from sexist attacks,however I do not think she got publically called out enough for being a total hypocrite. She is on tape as saying that women should stop complaining about double standards, then throughout the campaign and afterwards she did nothing but complain about double standards. I am glad for what she has accomplised coming from a middle class background, but disagree with her in just about ever way possible. Also, I think running in Alaska, a very small state, had something to do with a woman from her class making it to the Gov.’s mansion, nevertheless she worked for it and oodon her.

21. Anti-religious discrimination, Malathion? Are Christians getting fired from their jobs after being photographed coming out of church? Having their names published in the local newspaper to shame their families into rejecting them? Being forced to use separate and lesser facilities than secular humanists? Being passed over in line at retail establishments in favor of people wearing shirts bearing the darwin fish with legs symbol?

    Or do you just mean that liberals don’t like religious folks? Like how no democrat can get elected unless they declare themselves athiest and attend a good old-fashioned bible burning?

22. [quote]“The rest of us,” though, are growing demographically. [/quote]

    Not really. As I tried to explain to the morons on Pandagon before I was banned, America is primarily white and will remain as such for both the short and medium term. As for the long term, it is more likely that America breaks up in several states than for it to turn into one giant Liberal/POC dystopia.

    The Dems will lose Congress in about a year and a half and after that happens, there are things that can be done to slow and reverse the growth of minority populations and lessen their political clout.

23. I can’t imagine why otis the charming got banned at Pandagon.

24. Maybe he’s just hoping to be feministe’s next top troll. Category: white supremacist conspiracy theorists.

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