Two of my favorite feminists, Rebecca Traister of Salon and Megan Carpentier of Jezebel, discuss Sarah Palin and the femininity factor on Bloggingheads:
While I think Meghan and Rebecca are great, I’m not such a fan of the Times’ description of the segment:
Megan Carpentier of the blog Jezebel, left, and Rebecca Traister of Salon discuss female politicians, such as Sarah Palin, who refuse to hide their femininity.
Sarah Palin isn’t “refusing to hide” her femininity; she’s playing it up and performing it. It’s an understandable decision, and as a relatively femme-y feminist I’ll be the last one to criticize another woman for wearing lipstick and skirts or holding babies or winking or whatever it is that Sarah Palin is “not hiding.” Performing femininity can bring with it a whole slew of benefits, not the least of which is being perceived as attractive on a variety of levels.
But it’s not like any of us came out of the womb in high heels and lipgloss.
So I kind of wonder how the Times defines “femininity.” Because if it’s just heels and lipstick, or raising a family, then a whole lot of women in politics (certainly including one former Democratic Leader of the House of Representatives) fit the bill. But I kind of suspect that there’s something else about Gov. Palin that makes the Times assert that she isn’t “hiding her femininity.” Call my cynical — or just say I read the headline — but I think they’re defining “feminine” as “girly.” And “girly” is basically short-hand for frivolous and stupid (unlike “boyish,” which seems to be closer to “charming”).
Now, I happen to agree that Palin is a blithering idiot. But our current blithering idiot of a president isn’t a blithering idiot because he “refuses to hide his masculinity” — he’s a blithering idiot because he’s a blithering idiot with insufficient experience, a stone-age ideological bent, and a pea-brain. He also plays up the gender thing by acting like a big macho cowboy in order to resonate with “Joe Sixpack.” Palin plays up the gender thing for the same reasons — to resonate with the majority of Americans who respond strongly to traditional gender roles, and for whom performed femininity makes women seem more appealing and less threatening.
Ain’t nothin inherently wrong with performed femininity,* or at least with many of the trappings of femininity. Taken out of context they’re all just things. They can even be — wait for it — fun. And I’m personally getting a little tired of “girly” things being derided — as if Nascar and trucks with big wheels are somehow Very Serious.
But we all know it’s an act, right?
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*That, actually, is a lie. There can be a lot wrong with performed femininity when an entire class of people are pressured and manipulated into performing it, and most don’t have another viable option. But that said, there isn’t anything anti-feminist about individual women performing femininity to various degrees. At least I hope not, or I’m out of the club.