I'm a feminist. That's right, you don't need to read it over and over to make sure your eyes and brain didn't suddenly become disconnected. I know it's true because I have a friend who's a confirmed feminist and she told me so. Heather, (I didn't get permission to use her last name.) is a professor of Sociology and Gender Studies at the University where I work and is soon to become the head of our Women's Gender Studies. She gave me a flash quiz. Do I believe in equal rights for women? "Yep." Equal pay for equal work? "Yep." Am I against discrimination against women? "Yep." Do I support an Equal Rights Amendment? "Yep." With the authority granted to her by virtue of her education and gender she decreed me a feminist.Now that we were in the same camp, I thought I would throw out a little test to see if we were really on the same page. "Heather," I queried, "Do you think Sarah Palin was the victim of sexism?" Her forehead squinched downward and her eyes became steely. "God, yes!" she practically shouted. "Do you really think they would have brought up her daughter's pregnancy if she were a man? Do you think they would have judged her clothes? Do you really think they would have compared a man to a slutty stewardess?" "Ummm, maybe Bill Clinton." I offered.
I was a tad taken back. Heather is as confirmed a Democrat as she is a Feminist. "Doesn't it matter to you that she's a Republican?" I questioned. "You don't stop having rights as a woman just because you picked the wrong Party." She answered grinning.
This got me thinking. How is it that the Democratic Party has gotten away with engaging in the most openly sexist attack on a woman I have seen since O.J. killed Nicole?
The truth is, I have been protecting Sarah Palin since the very first day she showed up on the scene and here's why. I believe that every single person in this country, man or woman, black, white or brown should have the opportunity to become all that their talents will allow them to become. I believe women have more to contribute to this country than being a housewife or a mother, although I believe both of those jobs are enormously important. I believe they should have the right to control their own body, a right I extend to everyone. I believe they have the right to hold high office and I believe they have the right to be given the same respect that would be given to a man, if they can do the same job.
And that's where I differ from my Democrat friends.
They believe you only get those rights if your a Democrat. They too believe that women can be something other than a mother or a housewife, but if you should choose either of those very honorable professions, you are not fulfilling your destiny, and are less of a woman for it. They believe that a woman should have choices, but if you choose to believe that abortion is wrong, you don't deserve the choice. They believe true women are animal activists, not hunters. They should be engineers, not PTA moms. They believe real women marry men who wear Khakis, drive a Prius and like to shop, not men who wear flannels, drive a truck and like to fish. On every level Sarah Palin violated that stereotype, and that infuriated them.
So they attacked her family, they attacked her clothes, they attacked her values, they attacked her culture, they attacked her accent, they attacked her beloved state, and when all else failed, they used their lawyers to bankrupt her. Finally, tired of it all, she retreated from public life and gave up her job of Governor of Alaska that she had fought so hard to get, both as a woman, and as a person.
To all you female Democrats out there who reveled in the destruction of Sarah Palin, I have a warning. Freedom is more than the right to abort a fetus.It's more than the right to vote. It's more than the right to become a doctor or a engineer or a Vice President. Freedom is about the right to choose your own destiny, by virtue of your own choices. If your choices are restricted to only the ones that the Democratic Party gives you, you really don't have choices at all, and you are once again in a "comfortable concentration camp." H.C.







