Comments on: Sarah Palin: Potential Downsides of Being a Forceful Woman

By: The Heroine » Blog Archive » A Woman President?

The Heroine » Blog Archive » A Woman President? — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:21:37 +0000

[...] mate since she is a woman? Definitely. See this article on Citizen Sugar. Or this article on The Moderate Voice! Is that wrong? Maybe but it goes with the territory (at least until a woman leading isn’t [...]

By: spirasol

spirasol — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:22:05 +0000

How the USA can claim to value democracy with its current oligarchical and fascist leanings confuses me in the same way that a woman can claim to have benefited from her feminist leanings but be strictly pro life, and work for a party representing wealthy white men.

By: ChrisWWW

ChrisWWW — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:27:35 +0000

Not that it matters in the slightest, (and I feel the need to apologize even as I type this) but doesn't Palin have that kind of voice that Republicans have long accused Hillary of having?

By: CStanley

CStanley — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:20:31 +0000

I think what's lovable about Sarah Palin- and I think will have a huge impact among even many women who don't agree with her politically- is that she does show how to overcome the very phenomenon that you describe here, Dr. E. She shows that you can be tough as nails but not nasty, and deliver scathing criticism with humor and grace. In other words, she displays a very specific type of feminine power, and does it quite well.

By: GeorgeSorwell

GeorgeSorwell — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:41:14 +0000

This doesn't have anything to do with being a woman, but some people in the media decided to do their jobs and check the facts about Palin.

Associated Press: Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention:

Washington Post: Palin E-Mails Show Intense Interest in Trooper's Penalty

Slate: How can smart people say such dumb things about Sarah Palin?

I don't think Palin is a mythic figure. I think she's just another politician.

By: MaryL

MaryL — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:27:36 +0000

Forceful and honest is admirable. Forceful and vain, smug, petty and dishonest is not. She lied about her record (the Bridge to Nowhere — again?) and she lied about Obama's record. I'm not even talking about the usual spin politicians indulge in — I'm talking about brazen lies.

You can keep your cult of personality. It worked so well with Bush, didn't it?

By: Peter_Allen

Peter_Allen — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:14:27 +0000

From Leonidas:

Downside of being a forceful woman, the liberals will absolutely hate you because they have convinced themselves that only a liberal woman can be independent and forceful.

Oh, I don't know about that. Coming from a family full of independently thinking, strong-willed women, you don't tend to develop the illusion that such traits are inherent to one political persuasion or the other. Plus, having been in the South for over ten years, I've had much more liberal friends than I admire those traits in conservative women as well – if perhaps grudgingly .

By: onleyone

onleyone — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 08:09:40 +0000

praise the lord 'n' pass the kool-aid!

By: Leonidas

Leonidas — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:53:47 +0000

Downside of being a forceful woman, the liberals will absolutely hate you because they have convinced themselves that only a liberal woman can be independent and forceful. I've seen so many comments around the blogosphere from liberals that Palin needs to stay home with her family, that she somehow slept her way to the top, that she gets by on only her looks or the fact that she is a woman, etc. Luckily, most of America is more enlightened than these folk, or at least not so blindly filled with a Sullivanesque sleeze.

But there is little to worry about since Sarah is a strong, intelligent, witty, politically savy and self-made sucessful woman, she can handle herself just fine.

By: archangel

archangel — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:43:51 +0000

dear Silhouette, my goodness. That's not at all what I said, did I? I am saying that sometimes outspoken women are seen this way... e.g., as know-it-alls who ought be reigned in, scorned, ridiculed, put down. That men are often not seen in the same terms.

I may be wrong, but I also thought I said, in the end, that I dont know if women in the political public eye receive more screed than men in same position. But when it's aimed at them as females with regard to sexuality, looks etc, it seems so.

Could we insert the word black? I think that'd be a different set of blowbacks perhaps. Latino? I live it. I'd have to give your suggestion more thought.

I hope women, as men, as blacks and latinos and all other people by whatever group name they call themselves, will have parity, and perhaps more, not be so immediatly run over when they raise their heads above the skyline. I am not sure that that can always happen on earfth.

I think it is worth trying to explicate and learn tho.

dr.e

By: Silhouette

Silhouette — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:26:58 +0000

That's it! Don't hold back....lol.. Just let the sexism FLOW....

Here's an exercise kids. Insert the word "black" wherever you find "woman" in this article.

Uh huh....

NOW you see what it's all about.. Absolutely intolerable...the preservation and rampant acceptance of sterotypes. Now we know why Hillary didn't get the nomination. She wasn't keeping her place...

And you gotta believe it too because Dr. Pinkola-Estes said it. A REAL PhD has confirmed that women must be thought of and treated differently...always...forever...

Yes um' boss..

Just utterly unbelievable..