Comments on: A Little More on Motherhood and Choice

By: octogalore

octogalore — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:18:52 +0000

“This post makes an interrsting point – that of how the Palin choice alienates all women of a lower economic strata – they don;t get to stay home and be soccer moms.”

Agree. But one issue remains. Do we know or trouble ourselves with male candidates who have many children, or pregnant teens? Does the choice of these candidates alienate all men of a lower economic strata, because they don’t get to stay home and be soccer dads?

If the answers to these questions is yes, then it’s fair to single Palin out (the usual disclaimer that I, like all good lefty feminists, disagree strongly with her social policies applies, of course).

However, I would suspect that the answer to these questions is “no,” or at least “not even close to as much.”

By: ElleBeMe

ElleBeMe — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 00:54:58 +0000

This post makes an interrsting point – that of how the Palin choice alienates all women of a lower economic strata – they don;t get to stay home and be soccer moms. They have to work to put food on the table. Yet another stunning population of people the French Fry campaign has alienated. Soccer moms are white, weathy, middle-class women who CAN afford to stay home. Not all of us have that luxury – and I would imagine women of color, single, poor…have a hard time relating to her.

By: T

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:36:46 +0000

I would guess that he doesn’t have more nannies than a mom whose husband is a governor or running for major office rich folks).

By: DaisyDeadhead

DaisyDeadhead — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:52:06 +0000

Yes, I am tired of hearing that Papa Palin is “staying home with the kids”–oh yeah, I’m sure he is!

And how many nannies are staying home with him?

By: LadyTess

LadyTess — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:42:36 +0000

Let me just come out and say this right off the bat : We need more black and latina feminists on TV tearing into the right wing’s forced pregnancy frame to reproductive rights.

I totally agree with what Liza is saying. I have always thought this was needed. Not just in the USA either but in every country around the world. Considering that those are the people who will be affected the most by the forced pregnancy agenda.

By: Fatemeh

Fatemeh — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:45:17 +0000

Great post. The issue of “choice” is often made a white issue, and the history and choices that women of color had/have to make are often rationalized away under “race”.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of hope that Palin’s camp (or the GOP at large) will wake up to these realities.