Voting for the “Hot Chick”? Feminism and Politics

It is remarkable that there is a woman candidate for Vice President on the Republican ticket.

And it might have actually meant something to the long and ongoing feminist movement until it became clear that a lot of old white men were demeaning Palin and every other woman in the United States by touting their “Hoosiers for the Hot Chick” and “Hottest Governor/Coolest State” buttons at the Republican National Convention.

And just like that she was positioned like every other woman in our country: an object to be desired (or not) by men who can’t see or think beyond faces and bodies.

Shame on you Republicans.

And thank you to the camera operators who zoomed in on these buttons. Whether they meant to celebrate them or shock and awe the television audience, these close-ups of buttons demonstrated that the old White, Patriarchal, Misogynist, Heterosexist, Sexist traditions of the Republican party are alive – and even renewed.

No. I won’t be voting for the Republican ticket. In fact I’m terribly insulted that the party assumed U.S. women voters would support any candidate with a vagina regardless of her beliefs about the earth, women, foreign affairs, health care, education, religion, and economic policies. Our nation is in a terrible position with high unemployment and joblessness, a failed health care system, stagnant and falling wages, a failed education policy, constant battles against women’s rights, and three wars being fought abroad. This is certainly not the time to cast one’s vote only to get a woman in the White House. It is the most important time to listen closely to policies aimed at our increased poverty in wages, health care, education, and international reputation.

Should we be terribly surprised that a woman who is NOT considered by men to be a “hot chick” (hmmmm…Hilary?) is the one who worked so hard at putting 18 million cracks in the tallest glass ceiling and that a much younger woman considered “hot” by men is the one who has the chance to shatter that ceiling?

No…nothing has changed, at least not much at all. The patterns are there, just take a closer look.