The Demise of the "Sisterhood of Single-Issue Feminists"

09/08/2008

If you listened very carefully to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s dynamic speech to the Republican Convention last Wednesday night, you could plainly hear the death cry of single-issue feminism. The nomination of Governor Palin, a pro-life feminist, for Vice President of the United States has put the final nail in the coffin of an increasingly discredited and narrow-minded worldview that believes that women cannot thrive in a world without unrestricted abortion-on-demand. Equally importantly, her historic candidacy promises to transform the tone and complexion of American feminism.

But organizations that predicate their influence and even their very existence upon the precepts of single issue feminism will certainly not go quietly as their public statements since the nomination aptly demonstrate. One by one, the “usual suspects” lined up to denounce Governor Palin and her pro-life views.

In their single-issue fanaticism, these disingenuously self-described “women’s rights” organizations, cannot support a woman who appears to be living the modern feminist dream: meaningful and powerful career, happy marriage, and beautiful family. They cannot support a woman who has achieved astonishing success in the “good ole’ boy” world of Alaskan politics. They cannot support a woman who, at 42, was elected the first female governor of her state and enjoys a better than 80% job approval rating. the rest