Comments on: The Feminist Mystique: How Election 2008 Killed a Notorious Word

By: Feminists Hate Sarah Palin Because She Lost Her Baby Weight - The Sexist - Washington City Paper

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:45:51 +0000

[...] to answer the age-old question: Why do feminists hate Sarah Palin so much? Hmm—I can think of a few reasons. The resulting discussion between Ingraham, Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn, and [...]

By: wiggles

wiggles — Sat, 16 May 2009 23:26:11 +0000

"Sarah Palin is THE definition of feminism." If your definition of feminism is to charge rape victims for their own forensic kits and to nominate a state attorney general who blames domestic violence on women's failure to "keep their mouths shut", you have some serious rethinking to do on the subject of feminism.

By: Sexist Beatdown: DoubleX Is Killing Feminist Blogs Which Are Killing Feminism Edition - The Sexist - Washington City Paper

Fri, 15 May 2009 13:01:50 +0000

[...] i don’t mind the “death of feminism” so much—hell, i’ve written a eulogy for feminism before, mostly because it’s kind of fun and pretty easy—but the way it’s weirdly [...]

By: Andrew Beaujon

Andrew Beaujon — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:00:16 +0000

Hess was 14 when Lilith Fair ended. GEEZER!

By: mdesus

mdesus — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:20:42 +0000

and make me a sandwich.

By: repingeorgetown

repingeorgetown — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 22:16:17 +0000

No, what’s scary is sad hipster townie paper reporterettes who took too many women’s studies classes and went to too many Lilith Fair concerts. Get a haircut, lose the birkenstocks,wax that upper lip and get a real life.

By: Last Week’s Most Popular Blog Posts: Barely Legal Douchebag Edition - The Sexist - Washington City Paper

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 17:10:01 +0000

[...] Town Tavern, which turns away Adams Morgan’s most noble specimen: The under-23 douchebag. 2. The Feminist Mystique: How Election 2008 Killed a Notorious Word, in which I resurrect the ghost of Sarah Palin, to make a point about how she continues to haunt [...]

By: Obmama Lobbies to Drop Family Planning From Stimulus Bill - The Sexist - Washington City Paper

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:04:15 +0000

[...] in these tough economic times. Just another example of what it looks like to finally have a mainstream feminist President. SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Obmama Lobbies to Drop Family Planning From Stimulus Bill”, url: [...]

By: Sexist Comment of the Day - The Sexist - Washington City Paper

Sexist Comment of the Day - The Sexist - Washington City Paper — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:47:48 +0000

[...] Emily’s comment in my spam folder until this morning. Here’s what she had to say on The Feminist Mystique: How Election 2008 Killed a Notorious Word: Feminism is not supposed to be controversial. It is commonsensical, so by virtue we would be [...]

By: Emily

Emily — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:05:41 +0000

Feminism is not supposed to be controversial. It is commonsensical, so by virtue we would be fighting against the odds to make it naughty. The goals the movement seeks to achieve “voting rights, contraception access, pay equity” are not evermore scandalous, they are rudimentary. It’s pitiful that they must be achieved slowly, one step at time involving arduous processes of convincing those in power that women deserve the same freedoms as men. I would absolutely NOT agree that tagging our president as a feminist hurts the movement. Instead I think it’s a slap in the face to those that mock feminism as something that only hot-tempered, irrational women spout off about because they hate men or love women too much or whatever. These people (men and women) generally never bother to learn what feminism is actually about. Now, when an educated, thoughtful, truly concerned man dedicated to the cause of spreading justice becomes the most popular person in the country (world?) and he can get on board, it’s as Katherine Spillar explained: It’s a wake-up call (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iesUwiwB2iY). Many of the same issues we have been dealing with for decades remain on the table. Equal pay, for example, is so basic it’s outrageous we still have to rely on a “bad word” to muster up any hope of even getting the general public to recognize why it’s problematic that women don’t make the same amount of money for the same job a man does. The same job. Ay. Feminism isn’t an elite club. There is not a limited supply of “This is what a feminist looks like” t-shirts. Anyone can wear one. Shit, everyone should.

Also, the idea that a man, or a popular person, or both at once cannot be a feminist without dampening the cause is preposterous and totally archaic.

Nice comment from Frisky:

“The only people making a mockery of feminism are the feminists who get their knickers in a bunch over EVERYTHING. It’s shameful and it’s embarrassing. The world is not black and white and it’s certainly not men vs. women. Women can align with (and vote for!!) men without turning their backs on their gender, and a man can stand up for women’s rights without being some superhero who’s rescuing feminism. The man was raised by two strong women, is married to a strong woman, has a strong mother-in-law, and is raising two little girls. Why WOULDN’T he be a feminist?”

http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-ms-magazine-obama/

Pretty much.

By: Kathryn Jean Lopez Deals “Feminist” Another Blow - The Sexist - Washington City Paper

Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:01:05 +0000

[...] Sarah Palin and Barack Obama teamed up to kill “feminist” this election cycle, Kathryn Jean Lopez will have it spinning in its grave. In a National Review [...]

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 16:00:26 +0000

Democratic women do not have the monopoly on “feminism”….

Sarah Palin is THE definition of feminism.

When women bash other women, we all loose.

By: Out

Out — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 07:23:55 +0000

Obama is sexist NOT a feminist.

By: Gail

Gail — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:28:01 +0000

Ask 10 different people to define “feminist” and you’ll get 10 different answers. It’s a passe’ label!

By: Sady

Sady — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:51:17 +0000

This is GENIUS in so many ways. Then again, sometimes I read this and get a stomachache and think “feminism” might not be all that mainstreamed after all:

http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-thoughts-from-guys-on-our-im-are-you-a-feminist/

I like “feminisms,” plural, because I think so much of the threat around someone like Palin is the way they can say they are “feminist” and then say that “gender hasn’t been an issue” in their lives. Feminism is the belief that women should be fully equal to men in all respects – oh, and they totally are, so we can stop working! In essence, is what they are saying. Mainstreaming feminism often removes any challenges to the status quo from the movement and focuses on talking about how POST-gender-inequality we are and everything should stay exactly the same and gender analysis is making a big deal out of nothing and everything should just stay exactly the same because it is perfect.

I hate to be Debbie Downer, but it ain’t so. And having multiple feminisms, which sometimes conflict with each other, helps to resist that mainstreaming and declawing of the movement. I hope. But, yeah, feminism can mean anything up to and including anti-feminism, these days.

Which is why I privately prefer “babykilling spinster.”