LAURA F. writes to Laura Wood:

I know you’re taking a lot of flak from Mrs. Palin’s admirers right now, so I wanted to let you know I appreciate your assessments of her. She is absolutely a feminist. Feminism has been assimilated into mainstream U.S. conservatism and the conservatives haven’t even noticed it. People many years my senior who claim to support conservative family values love her, and I ask them, “If 20 years ago she had come on the scene as she now is, would you have considered her a conservative?” They don’t seem to think it matters because liberalism has progressed so far since then. So in many minds, conservatism means “staying a few steps behind the liberals” rather than having eternal principles. And people are so alienated from our own traditional family structure that they think it comparable to life under the ayatollahs in Iran. Thanks for putting your courageous voice out there.

Laura Wood responds:

Thank you very much. 

At the Free Republic website, they’re calling me a loser and a jealous housewife for criticizing Palin the way I have. Look, I don’t mind others taking issue with what I’ve said and disputing the specific points. That’s to be expected. Bring it on. Let’s hash it out. But this sort of attack on my position as a housewife is so typical of the underlying disregard for traditional women. We are housewives because we lack ambition or because we are stupid or because we  haven’t the ability to do other things or we’re simply lucky enough to have the money to do it. In other words, we are losers. The truth is, many of us are winners and simply worry about being forced to give it all up. Why would someone like me be jealous? I have everything an ordinary woman wants most in this world: a loving marriage, extraordinary children and a home I have managed and fashioned on my own. I am sovereign of my island. If I am a loser then many of the happiest women in America are losers. We make up a confederacy of contented losers.

Kidist Paulos Asrat writes:

I did manage to watch the Palin interview on Oprah. Of course, I enjoyed the dynamics between two strong women facing each other, although Oprah still rules!

But, here’s something that caught my attention.

Palin says she’s “an anomaly” because she has a myriad of relatives to take care of her children, more specifically the youngest special needs one. She actually says somewhere “Don’t do it [run of public office and I guess other time-consuming career activities] unless you have a support system.” And talks about not having it all, some things have to be put on the back-burner, and making “appropriate choices.” This was after Oprah’s direct question about the responsibilities of motherhood and the presidency.

So, women may talk about equality and freedom, and husbands pitching in/taking over. But what husband would say “don’t do it unless you have a support system?” He would simply assume his wife is taking care of all of that.

Despite the breezy air of equality, women are actually juggling many things to appear equal to men in terms of careers. And many are not telling the whole truth. Such a message is confusing, to say the least, to young women looking for role models.

One other thing that struck me is Sarah going on about how, now that she has quit the governorship, she is free to do whatever she wants. No more grinding responsibilities of running a state.

So much for freedom and equality.

Laura Wood writes:

Yes, I noticed this contradiction too. The problem is that young women don’t absorb the subtlety of the message. They hear, “Go ahead and pursue your talents and interests as far as you can.” They later realize they will never have the support system of a Sarah Palin and become angry, as if one were entitled to have retinue of surrogate mothers or government-sponsored day care to fulfill your maternal duties. 

The “balance myth,” as I call it, is nearly as dangerous as the open-faced falsehood that a woman can have it all. “Balance” in a modern woman’s life often means an unkempt home, a neglected husband and children who are abandoned to the full-time indoctrination of schools, our wonderful state-supported institutions of learning that openly disdain family, tradition, God and Western civilization.

Laura writes to Kidist:

I’m not an Oprah fan, but what did you think of her performance yesterday? I thought her questions were excellent.

Kidist writes:

I thought Oprah’s questions were quite “conservative.” It shows that people know that reality is not as liberal as they would like. Plus, I think she has to cater to her “Middle America” audience. Her question about women having home-based roles was right on. That is when Sarah stumbled around and talked about “back burners” and “extended families” and that she was an anomaly.

Oprah, though, knows how to put her interviewees in their place with just a GLANCE. When Sarah talked about Oprah not being on her radar during the elections, all Oprah did was change her expression, and Sarah was much more subdued.

Then, Sarah expressed profusely her admiration for Oprah for surmounting all her hurdles, etc. True narcissist that she is, all compliments are good, and Oprah just glowed! It is actually easy to be on her good side! Very funny.

Rita writes:

Keep up the good work, Laura.

I think women who think they can “have it all” need to realize they don’t need a support system, they ARE the support system!  Or rather they should be if they decide to have children. As far as grandparents helping out, they have already raised their children and shouldn’t have to raise their grandkids too. (Naturally, good grandparents help out but they shouldn’t replace parents.) That’s why it’s called RETIREMENT.  They need a rest. 

If you are looking to your kids to support you, you’re pretty sick.  You are supposed to be supporting them.  They will only have one youth.  When will they be supported?

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