To speak at the Tea Party Convention, Sarah Palin received $10,000. Her speech agreed completely with the party’s objectives, “declaring the primacy of the Tenth Amendment in limiting government powers, complaining about the bailouts and the ‘generational theft’ of rising deficits, and urging the audience to back conservative challengers in contested primaries” (Zerink, 2010, p. 1). After the crowd chanted “Run Sarah Run” and gave her standing ovation, Judson Phillips, the chief organizers of the convention said, “I think you like her!” (Zerink, 2010, p. 1). This is indicative of the origin of her power, which stems less from her original ideas and more from her confirmation of pre-existing ideologies. I take the Tea Party convention as an example of Sarah Palin’s success as a result of her true understanding and performance of all the aspects of patriarchy including raunch culture and privilege.
Interesting to note that Judson Phillips said, “I think you like her” not “I think you agree with her.” Most of Palin’s career has been defined by moments like this. She is an intelligent woman who uses her sociopolitical status to move up the hierarchical patriarchy. Palin, the 1984 “Miss Wasilla” beauty pageant winner, uses her looks to push her political career forward (Wheaton, 2008). Always seen in a skirt suit, she appeals to Raunch Culture and the privilege of being attractive. She uses the idea of sexy to get power. Ariel Levy explains, “Sex appeal has become a synecdoche for all appeal: People refer to a new restaurant or job as ‘sexy,’ when they mean hip or powerful…sexiness is no longer just about being arousing or alluring, it’s about being worthwhile” (Levy, 2005, p. 30-31). Being sexy requires being attractive, but being sexy gives you more than sexual attention, it give you power and legitimacy. Sarah Palin is sexy; The Tea Party likes her meaning that her ideas are worthwhile.
Sarah Palin also used the invisible privilege in her backpack to push her career forward (McIntosh, 1988, p.1). As a white woman, she was able to tap directly into three of the conditions Peggy McIntosh during her campaign for the vice presidency:
7. When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization,” I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
19. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trail.
43. If I have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem. (Peggy McIntosh, 1988, p. 2-4)
Number 7 helped Palin fit a schema that already existed for white women in the political sphere. While it was groundbreaking to have a woman as a serious candidate from both major parties, Palin was a heterosexual, Christian, white woman so her gender, nor her sexuality nor race nor religion were examined. She can also appeal to the very politically conservative Tea Party movement because she looks like one of them. Being the norm or default race also gave her an opportunity not to put her race on trail. Hillary Clinton’s involvement in the 2008 election gave Sarah Palin the opportunity to speak without putting her gender on trial. Sarah Palin offered the opposite approach as Clinton in being a politically powerful woman. She did not have to put her race or her gender on trial. She spoke as one woman, not as White Women. Lastly, her poor approval by the democratic north gave her a low credibility, but as 43 notes, her race was not the problem. Sarah Palin’s personal actions were responsible for her public image, not her race; that is a real privilege.
Patriarchy also helped Sarah Palin gain the southern public’s admiration because she played up her role as a woman behind a man. There is a famous quote that “behind every good man stands a great woman.” Sarah Palin ran for the Vice Presidency behind a white man. She, unlike Hillary Clinton, used the patriarchic image of woman as pure standing behind a man. This was a path of lower resistance than the one Hillary Clinton chose to take (Johnson, 2002, p. 32). Now in the Tea Party movement she does not ask to be a leader,
“The speech was closely watched as a potential signal of Ms. Palin’s political future and the extent to which the convention would embrace her. But Ms. Palin, while aligning herself firmly with the Tea Party, nevertheless urged the 1,100 delegates who had gathered in a hotel ballroom not to let the movement be defined by any one leader” (Zernike, 2010, p.1).
Sarah Palin still uses the schema for women not as leaders but as motivation behind something more powerful than them as individuals. By appealing to the mentality of women in the supporting role, she is able to get more attention and respect because her power is contained within the system. Sarah Palin uses her role in patriarchy to bring herself more success in terms of political power and money.
Sarah Palin’s role in the Tea Party political movement is one example of her abuse of patriarchy. Even though she works as an impressive and powerful woman, she is not a feminist. Sarah Palin works within oppressive and patriarchic systems. Audre Lorde would argue that Palin’s work only betters herself and not women in general (Lorde, 1984, p. 1). Sarah Palin is as Johnson notes a member of the patriarchy and works within it to gain personal strength. Just as her removal from public office freed her from responsibility to other people, her actions as a female leader distanced her from the feminist movement.
Works Cited
Wheaton, Sarah, Marcia Allert, Catrin Einhorn, Celina Fang, Lisa Iaboni, and Gabriel Dance. "Milestones: Sarah Palin." The New York Times. 29 Aug. 2008. Web. 14 Feb. 2010.
Zernike, Kate. "Palin Assails Obama at Tea Party Meeting." The New York Times. 6 Feb. 2010. Web. 14 Feb. 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment