Sarah Palin and Free-Market Feminism

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog.

Very interesting post on alternet.org about whether Sarah Palin gives right-wingers a chance to launch something called free-market feminism and brand her as a lure to younger, slightly more progressive Republican or conservative women. The article explains how she appeals to Bible conservatives with her lifestyle (heterosexual marriage, lots of kids and a great career) but also to free-marketers with her beliefs.

There's only one problem. Yes, she told CBS' Katie Couric she was a feminist (in that now-infamous interview that was the beginning of the end of her candidacy) but in a later encounter with reporters she took back the mantle and said that she was not a feminist.

Here's some of the post for your enjoyment nonetheless:

Palin is by no means a feminist in the traditional sense. While acknowledging that she benefited from Title IX, which bans sex discrimination in educational institutions, she has expressed off-again, on-again support for talking about condoms during sex education, and is associated with the group Feminists for Life, the home of such "conservative feminists" as the wife of Supreme Court Justice John Roberts.

But Palin gave viable political form to a "free-market feminism" that until now was largely championed by a few intellectuals and pundits based in conservative Beltway think tanks. As the GOP regroups in the Obama era, it may find this kind of feminism useful as a means of softening the culture war crusade that is so off-putting to moderate Republicans and independents alike.

• Read more by Bonnie Erbe.
• Read more from the Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
• Read more about Sarah Palin.