I have a new essay on Sarah Palin over at Radar. Here’s a sample:
“Sarah Palin has made the biggest step forward in feminism since Madonna,” Camille Paglia wrote in a recent Salon column….. “Palin represent[s] an explosion of a brand new style of muscular American feminism.”
In Palin’s case “muscular feminism” is really quite literal. Our potential president-in-waiting is a chaste dominatrix who wants to bully her way into your private life and declare control of your uterus. She may not be able to talk the “first dude” into trimming his nasty pubic-hair goatee, but she knows how to skin a caribou. She played basketball in high school. And who cares if she’s opposed to a woman’s right to choose? She can tear the still-beating heart of a moose from its chest, all without breaking a nail.
As Palin demonstrates, muscular feminism isn’t about progressiveness, equality, or integrity. It’s about proving you can talk tough, just like the boys, even if what you’re saying is totally retarded. If she were a man, we’d call her a meathead. A bully. She wouldn’t be a hockey mom, she’d be a dumb jock. But who cares about the issues? Let’s just watch her flex.
You can read it all here.
