POST-al: Feminist Presumptions

This editorial (click title for link) from the Washington Post is over two months old, but the questions it raises have reverberated around the Web to this day. Although untimely, I'd like to share my two cents to this matter. Certainly the author makes some good points, including that digg at Palin-approved cuts  for shelters, about the anti-WOMYN policies of the aforementioned former Alaska gov and her conservative cohorts. But to be fair, Palin is not the first nor the last to use feminism as a slogan. Hillary Clinton is as much a symbolic figure as she is an actual feminist. She and Elena Kagan both believe in the type of hawkish executive and military power that neo-conservatives argue for. It is their identity as women which enables them to be seen as advocates of feminist ideology, but I would argue that their actions contradict the interests of women as much as anything Palin's have.


My point is to grasp who Valenti is so quick to dismiss the idea of an emerging conservative feminist identity? her own analysis shows that these thinkers have been around a while. Just as many Black Americans did not want to stir up any trouble with white folks, there have been plenty of women who felt that systematic oppression is a mythical creature. But I'm thinking of practically-minded, solution-driven leaders who are both conservative and feminist (Palin, Clinton and Kagan all exhibit some of these traits to varying degrees).
I wish there were more self-proclaimed feminists who are fiscal conservatives (no one can balance a budget better than the moms I know). Nothing prepares a person better for the challenges of stretching a dollar than parenthood. Olympia Snowe, Mary Matalin, Susan Collins, Kathleen Parker and many others are conservatives who bring a fresh and not-so-nutty perspective to the table all the time. I'm willing to bet most of our mothers fall into the conservative feminist category in ways which way surprise you and me.


The desire to reduce abortion numbers is something that's in all people's interest and now that anti-abortion activists have (for the most part) stopped screaming bloody murder at the only REAL choice that is viable and healthy, I think activists who want to exclusivize feminism should take a few seconds to listen.
Feminism can be articulated and fulfilled in numerous ways. Women of color have long been excluded from feminist discourse, which Valenti also acknowledges. A lot of feminist activists throughout Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America espouse rather conservative values but are fighting for women's liberation just as diligently as any radical leftist fembot. Conservative women and conservative feminism have plenty to offer the world of politics and policy. It is unfortunate that Palin is portrayed as this movement's spokesperson but perhaps it takes a lipstick pitbull, no matter how half-baked of a political figure she may be, to show that conservative feminists have some byte.