In an address to the Susan B Anthony List, last Friday, Sarah Palin said that the earliest leaders of the Women's Suffrage movement and feminist "foremothers" were pro-life advocates. A statement strongly disputed in a recent Washington Post op-ed by Ann Gordon and Lynn Sherr."For nearly 30 years, both of us have been immersed in Susan B. Anthony's words - Ann as the editor of Anthony's papers, Lynn as the author of a biography. We have read every single word that this very voluble - and endlessly political - woman left behind. Our conclusion: Anthony spent no time on the politics of abortion. It was of no interest to her, despite living in a society (and a family) where women aborted unwanted pregnancies."
Gordon and Sherr say that Sarah Palin is no Susan B. Anthony; claiming that the interpretations of Susan B. Anthony by the far right agenda is an "...erosion of accuracy in history and journalism."
What's scary about Sarah Palin is her latex appeal that's shiny, dramatic and skin-tight to self-help groups such as this and the friendly Tea baggers. Her tendency to 'Go Rouge' and sound the alarm for all mothers to hind-up like momma grizzly bears and protect their cubs and their homes feeds on everything but security.
Who in their 'Right' winged mind wouldn't believe Sarah anyway? Sarah with her fulltime mommy status and her fulltime advocacy plate. Of course she's the model American woman who can do it all. NOT!
Sarah's logic on liberty is for women to have as many babies as we want anytime we want. And if we cant handle it, give them to someone else. These are the 'common-sense' solutions she wants us to believe in. The simplification of the complex and rich diversity of our make-up and obligation as women.
Unless we speak out and against these fundamental crimes against women, Christian fundamentalists will continue to espouse their religious beliefs. This is the new face of oppression with its hues of scarlett blush. Do you not see the letter 'A' in this?
While motherhood is a beautiful thing that I highly recommend, arguably what nature intended for women; we were also given free will to choose that which is right or wrong for us as women. That is our RIGHT under the constitution of the United States. We cannot allow the Sarah's of this world to sell this message without consequences against all women.
I argue for protecting the process of choice and the right to decide. These are the civil rights that Susan B. Anthony and pioneers of the suffrage movement were persecuted for. This is the pathway that she envisioned for women to enter into consciousness and unbiased truth-telling, free of guilt-laden rhetoric and God-fearing gimmicks.
We do not have to overthrow a woman's right to self in these phony movements full of hype, superficial rouge and maternal callings. A woman's first obligation is to love and appreciate herself in order to fully love and appreciate others. The making of a young girl into a woman is a delicate and complex process that is not as simple as Sarah would want us to believe. Society does not allow for this process without persecuting the female psyche.
Nature intended for us to be girls before we become women. It is that process of coming of age and becoming women that is heavily suppressed in the game of politics. The Susan B Anthony that I studied, read about and admire is certainly not the anti-woman, anti-choice heroine that Palin wants me to believe.
History tends to repeat itself if we don't fact-check; if we believe the 'anything Sarah says goes' hype, if we're not actively listening for falsehoods, purposely engaged in critical analysis. At the very least, we must speak out against the obstruction of one's right to choose. Whether that choice is for life, marriage, education, immigration, healthcare; that's a Constitutional right.... We have the right to CHOOSE! And its worth calling out all these anti-agents against us.
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