Sunday, September 7th, 2008...11:32 pm
Palin
Megan McArdle writes:
[Palin] has to make herself non-threatening by emphasizing her domesticity and fertility. I don’t blame her for doing these things, since they seem to work. But I don’t like living in a society where this works.
I had the same thought, but I think it’s the wrong thought to have. I’m not sure that Palin’s maternal authority is non-threatening. It might be quite threatening. It might be threatening in such a way that Republicans are thinking: Thank God this terrifying woman is on our side.
I expected Sarah Palin to go onstage and play Laura Bush; to hold the world’s most widely attended PTA meeting; to say “look how splendidly I conform to all of the gender norms you conform to.” That’s the public maternalism we’re used to, the cloying saccharine sweetness of It Takes a Village, of education majors and child literacy enthusiasts. It’s Mrs. Bush currying favor by calling herself a “desperate housewife,” Michelle Obama asserting her domestic authority by talking about her husband’s soiled socks.
Sarah Palin did not do this. She expressed love for her husband in the dismissive, doting way male candidates express love for their wives. Todd Palin is darling and pure. No one is left wondering who heads the Palin household, who stays behind and picks up the socks.
It is immensely difficult to project both authority and likability as a middle-aged woman. Palin found that paper-thin band of frequency within which this is possible.
I’m not at all certain of how much Palin’s hyper-fertility adds to her appeal; certainly I think Will is overemphasizing its pull here. She’d be an electric speaker without the advantage of attractive child-props. But to the extent that it’s there, it’s not gentle or reassuring or remotely passive. It’s something more interesting.
6 Comments
September 8th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Likability? I HATED her. Apparently, I’m not the only one.
http://jezebel.com/5045934/why-sarah-palin-incites-near+violent-rage-in-normally-reasonable-women
September 8th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Jezebel skews heavily left, so it’s understandable. All the conservative/libertarian women I spoke with were loving her; her obvious lack of interest in feminist ideology was refreshing and Thatcheresque. Of course I wish she were pro-choice, but I didnt get the feeling that shutting down abortion clinics was on her to-do list. With Palin, its all about oil.
September 10th, 2008 at 4:58 am
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September 13th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Kerry,
Is this really that unusual for a female politician? Michelle Obama, after all, is not the candidate — she has to conform to the “I make cookies!” stereotype political wives all have to conform to. Palin, however, is an elected official. Her demeanor towards her husband was, as you note, typical of how male politicians treat their spouses. I have always assumed that that is the approach a female politician has to take — i.e. this is how politicians (regardless of race, sex, or creed) have to treat their spouses. Do you know of any female governors who are shrinking violets in the Laura Bush mode? Is Palin’s approach really that different from the one Hillary Clinton would have taken had she been given the veep nod?
Anon
September 13th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
I am impressed by your phrase ‘child props.’ Did you know I saw her on the cover of the National Enquirer today? I guess it was a slow week for 3-headed monsters.
Nice blog. I’ve got you bookmarked & will visit again. G.
September 16th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
I think her children are actually quite reassuring for many because they don’t seem to be a prop. Hillary Clinton was so disliked because she seemed to pay condescending lip service to the idea of being feminine. She seemed to endure being a mother for as long as was politically necessary before she could cast womanhood aside for a more masculine role. She seemed a fraud. Her actions implicitly suggested that femininity is weak and unsuited to the task of leadership.
Gov. Palin’s five children are reassuring because she is explicitly feminine and motherly without being weak, passive, or gentle. She’s a scrappy fighter (reminds me of my sister Addie) who throws elbows without ever seeming to apologize for being a woman and mother. There is no differentiating Sarah Palin the mother from Sarah Palin the athlete from Sarah Palin the hard-nosed governor. She doesn’t have to stop being a woman or mother in order to be a politician. For her, as for most men, there is no conflict between her gender identity and her professional one. That truly is, a new kind of feminism.
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