Finally, feminists unite

At long last, it seems ardent feminists have united around the issue of misogynistic humor, even when it’s directed at conservative women.

The past few weeks have brought a wave of vile and indefensible attacks against women who happen to espouse conservative political opinions. From a crude and disgusting Playboy web posting about "hot" conservative women to David Letterman’s lame attempt at humor at the expense of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her daughters, attractive and outspoken women on the right seem to be fair game for crude and exploitative jokes.

I’ve always been troubled that so-called feminists who claim to seek equality for all women drag their feet when conservative women are the targets of such unfair and unfounded attacks. It’s hard for me to accept that their interest in a specific political point of view outweighs their commitment to improving the status of all women, regardless of politics. Looking back on the Clinton years, I could never understand how feminists could support a man who was clearly a serial womanizer. It struck me as hypocritical that they so willingly turned a blind eye to his disrespectful behavior toward his wife and other women just because he was on their side of the feminist agenda.

Finally, the old feminist guard is speaking up in defense of conservative women. NOW decried both the Letterman jokes and the Playboy feature on its Media Hall of Shame, noting that the sexualization of women and girls is reaching a new low. (Read this blog post for more).

Feminism for too long has been usurped by the “reproductive rights” agenda and hasn’t done enough to promote the respectful treatment of women in our media and culture. If it were true to its cause – promoting equality and respect for women – feminism would uphold women in every situation regardless of an individual woman’s political views.

Our daughters are growing up in a culture that objectifies women and girls as much as it ever did – if not more – yet feminism as a movement has been present in our culture since my childhood. Perhaps if feminist organizations such as NOW continue this newfound strategy of defending all women, regardless of political persuasion, we’d make more progress toward a truly respectful society that honors us all.