Naomi Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing
August 5, 2011
by Sandra
|The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
What’s this? Naomi Wolf, author of seminal feminist text The Beauty Myth, and more recently, boys’ club honorary member, seems to be exploring new ideas! We’ve long known that Naomi was a woman of strong passions, and so we heartily welcome her to our side.
She hasn’t always played on our team: after joyously championing the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama over his competitor Senator Hillary Clinton, proclaiming him “Christmas, and New Year’s, and Hanukkah rolled into one,” she was quick to smear The New Agenda as a devious right-wing spoiler organization intended to denigrate Obama.
Actually, that entire interview is an epic comedy of errors, wherein Wolf defends the TNA position that feminism isn’t owned by either side of the aisle, and then backs up her point by accusing the political right of using a fake concern for women for sneaky political ends, and defending Obama as a feminist based on a litany of left-wing policy choices (almost none of which he’s even attempted to follow through on, by the by).
Other highlights from her recent years as a spokesperson of mainstream feminism? A defense of the burqa as personally liberating, a tone-deaf dismissal of the rape charges against Julian Assange, and a proclamation that the feminists have won based on the evidence that First Lady Michelle Obama is now allowed to play “fashion plate, doting mom and demure sex object” without eliciting public outcry. What a victory for women!
But really, I shouldn’t make fun. Because this time, she’s said something that actually makes sense. After a requisite bashing of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann (because obviously you can’t be taken seriously as an intelligent woman without calling other women morons, how would the men know you were on their side?), she takes a moment to appreciate their populist appeal.
Interestingly she defines populism as more Mussolini and less Andrew Jackson, but hey, we’ll take what we can get. Then she implies that wonkiness is a male trait (wait, Naomi, if women don’t value in depth knowledge, why do you care if Palin doesn’t read the New York Times?), and that women are better suited to this charismatic leadership stuff, presumably because it’s all rhetoric and hysteria, best delivered by and for the soccer mom demographic.
At this point, she really lets us have it. Not only is it a misapprehension to think that feminism is a creature of the left (a view that is probably so prevalent, she suggests, because it’s always been left feminists who’ve accomplished the goals of feminism), but *gasp* “feminism is philosophically as much in harmony with conservative, and especially libertarian, values – and in some ways even more so.”
Well, I know an awful lot of Left-leaning feminists (me included) who may have a hard time swallowing that, but I’ll certainly welcome any suggestion that feminism can and should be a big tent, and that policy positions should not form any kind of litmus test. Heck, it’s just nice to have a break from the chorus of voices suggesting that there’s no such thing as a right-wing feminist.
She goes on to suggest that there are a large number of right wing feminists who see conservative values as more in tune with the heart of feminism (which Wolf defines as being about individual choice and freedom). Wow. This is a big move for a woman who once called Palin “FrankenBarbie” and suggested that she was a credulous puppet for more nefarious right-wing forces (oddly, she showed no respect for the rugged individualism or populism of right wing women in this article). Why the change in tune? Maybe she’s genuinely seen the light. Or maybe she’s seen what’s coming, and needs to position herself to stay relevant. My money is on the latter.
But then again, I’ll take what I can get. With women who take a shot at getting elected being attacked with misogyny, regardless if they’re on the right or the left, with hundreds of women being raped every day in the United States alone, with maternal death rates on the rise, we need all the allies we can find.
So, if you’re in earnest, Naomi, we want you on our team. It’s a big big tent. Anyone who wants to support women can join. Even baldly calculating political opportunists.
Sandra,
Frankly, I don’t trust Naomi to be a true ally of women. The things she said about Palin and Hillary blew me away that any woman claiming to be a feminist could ever take this approach for any reason.
Sure, we would like her on our team, but I’d have to see a lot more action on Naomi’s part indicating that she finally understands what an actual feminist acts and talks like before I would ever depend on her to rally around any individual or group in standing up to the misogyny and outright human rights violations perpetrated against women every day.
Kathleen, that’s sort of the point I was making, albeit facetiously. That this sudden change of position is so at odds with her past remarks as to be nearly unbelievable as any thing other than crass political positioning. That said, I do think feminism/the pro-woman movement is a big tent, and I welcome as allies anyone who wants to join based on their values. Otherwise, we get stuck in the trap of parsing people’s words and actions to determine if they “deserve” to join. And that makes us no better than the left feminists who would deny Palin’s feminism just because they don’t like her politics.
I’m surprised Naomi would call Palin “Franken Barbie” since given her looks Naomi is just asking to get called “Liberal Feminist Ivory Tower Barbie” in return.
Sandra, this article rocks! I am sharing and reloading to post again. Thank you!
LOL, that is a great article, Sandra. Lot’s of tongue and cheek there, you made me laugh.
Feminism is a big tent and there really shouldn’t be any membership standards. Ha! You hear that Naomi? Lucky for you, we have no standards, so you’re in.
But in all seriousness, feminism really can be in harmony with conservative values. In the past couple of years, sometimes it has seemed even more so. At the moment we have a couple of conservative women leading, perhaps running for president. That’s a feminist act. In the past it’s been my experience that conservative women can be very good allies when it comes to things like domestic violence laws or child sexual abuse laws.
You have to remember conservative women once led the way on the Equal Rights Amendment and sent the first woman to congress. Women are women, we all have to live as women so we all have a vested interest in our quality of life.
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