Ms. Magazine refers to Palin as “Caribou Barbie”
Since the attempt on Congresswoman Giffords’ life called to mind the ghastly and vicious intolerance that has come to describe American political discourse (no, I’m not blaming Caribou Barbie’s insane target map, though there’s a reason why she popped into everyone’s head when the catastrophe happened), I thought I might use the public’s positive reaction to 1001 Inventions as an example of tolerance.
The magazine that used to be the voice of feminism is now apparently the voice of selective sexism. It’s the Amanda Marcotte school of faux feminism: misogyny is fine and great—to be encouraged, even—as long as it’s directed at women we don’t like.
Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting.
31 Responses to “Ms. Magazine refers to Palin as “Caribou Barbie””
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myiq2xu says:
Speaking of Amanda, here is her defense of Tracy Morgan’s comments about Sarah Palin.
The mind boggles.
January 28th, 2011 at 11:43 pm EST -
Valhalla says:
Well, I left a comment over there to this effect, but I’ll be surprised if it gets past moderation.
Pretty sad.
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Violet Socks says:
The actual topic of the post over there isn’t Palin but an exhibit on medieval Islamic civilization. The blogger appears to be unacquainted with freshman Western Civ 101 and is confused about the Arab contribution (“According to 1001 Inventions,” she writes, “while Europe was weltering in what they call the Dark Ages, Muslims from Spain to China were inventing just about everything. Then, for some reason, everyone forgot this, and a few centuries later Europeans reinvented the same stuff.”) So maybe it’s no surprise her “feminism” is equally garbled.
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Unree says:
Disgraceful. What a pity there are no membership cards for the women’s movement–if we had ‘em, Ms. could be made to forfeit the one it holds.
On a more upbeat note, it’s the Ms. blog rather than the print book, and the silly essay could lose the reference to Palin (it’s inside an unrelated parenthetical) without affecting anything that matters. So maybe an editor will delete? I’d cache it, Violet, if I were you, because you may have to return to the subject of misogyny in the most feminist magazine ever and this bit might disappear.
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Violet Socks says:
I’d cache it, Violet, if I were you, because you may have to return to the subject of misogyny in the most feminist magazine ever and this bit might disappear.
It’s not a subject I ever want to return to. I just want it to stop and never happen again.
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Sameol says:
Palin wasn’t really the object of his mockery. Kenny Smith asked him, “Tina Fey or Sarah Palin?” and Morgan said, “I think Sarah Palin is good masturbation material! The glasses and all of that … great masturbation material!” The joke is on the question; by taking it to the next level, Morgan was exposing how objectfying the question is.
Holy cow, Amanda’s ability to top herself never fails to impress. If she’d only managed to work something in there about Morgan’s “Black is the new President, Bitch” being the greatest feminist statement in history and how amazingly hip FGM is.
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Violet Socks says:
Amanda hates other women. Hates, hates, hates other women. It’s evident in her public writing, and even more evident if you ever have the misfortune to encounter her offline. She’s a sad but not unusual product of patriarchy and the way it inculcates female loathing (and self-loathing).
The only weird thing about her is that somehow she got it in her head that she’s a feminist. I puzzled over that for a couple of years, until the day she revealed that her “feminism” was rooted in her hatred and resentment of the female teachers she had in grade school.
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Nessum says:
[H]er “feminism” was rooted in her hatred and resentment of the female teachers she had in grade school.
Ah, the same root from where much misogyny stems, right?
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anna says:
Well, these days anyone who supports abortion rights and votes democrat feels entitled to call themselves a feminist. Anyway, amanda is just a partisan. She supports womens rights until it comes to women she disagrees with politically, and then she pours misogyny all over them, just like ms magazine.
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sarah says:
“The only weird thing about her is that somehow she got it in her head that she’s a feminist.”
The liberal boys told her she was and she always does what they say.
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SYD says:
How perfectly sexist they have become.
I mean… really.
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Unree says:
The only weird thing about her is that somehow she got it in her head that she’s a feminist.
Not weird to me. I think misogyny and feminism can live together in the same writer. This kind of feminist is outraged by the oppression of women as a group while disliking, or even hating, the people who would benefit from her efforts. Amanda Marcotte’s defenses of abortion rights are IMO convincing, insightful, and well argued. She dissects the misogyny of others.
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gdaddo says:
Feminists don’t use sexist language to denigrate other women. PERIOD.
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Violet Socks says:
Well, they do, though. They just shouldn’t.
That’s why it’s so disheartening to see that kind of thing in Ms.
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quixote says:
(I need footnotes. How can feminism start from a hatred of grade school female teachers? I can see sexism starting there, but the logic behind it as a starting point for feminism escapes me. “Oh, I hate Ms. Opfelberger, so I’ll spend the rest of my life fighting for women’s rights.” ?? Makes no sense. I know near-zero about Amanda M., and would just as soon keep it that way, but my brain is worrying this non sequitur like a bulldog with a smelly bone.)
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Carmonn says:
I also think that a lot of it, with Amanda and all the others, has to do with the reality of the situation. There’s a reason why Amanda gets paid to write for Slate and Dr. Socks doesn’t. The only way to be even provisionally accepted into Blogger Boy world is to grit the teeth, smile, validate them when they’re in trouble, and be ever-ready to slag any other woman as necessary. Anyone unprepared to play the part of the Acceptable Feminist need not apply. Slate also has a piece up, “Why Michelle Bachmann is the Real Sarah Palin,” so that pretty much says a lot IMO.
As far as I’ve been able to tell, the Ms. author has rarely if ever written much about feminism in the past, so why they wouldn’t choose actual activists who have something to say on a topic or feminists who have the desire to learn about it rather than bloggers who might as well be writing for Newsweek or any other random publication is unclear to me. Maybe they’re overextended with the blog and trying to fill space?
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tinfoil hattie says:
The hell with Ms. Magazine. Obama is what a feminist looks like, remember? They’re doing more damage by claiming to be feminist.
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tinfoil hattie says:
And excuse me, but how is Tracy Morgan’s loathsome comment NOT denigrating to Sarah Palin? What would he have to say for Amanda to consider it either “denigrating” or “about Sarah Palin”? MAJOR LOGIC FAIL.
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julia says:
Misogyny and feminism can live together, in trhe same woman. She puts her blinders on where it’s too painful to go and takes them off in other places. I see it all the time, even with close friends.
When you really become radical, it gets harder and harder to put them on.
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Yas says:
I can’t believe Gloria Steinem is OK with this. I don’t know if she is still in charge of this magazine , but if she isn’t it is long overdue for her to rein in this faux feminist!
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Grace says:
Tracy Morgan has shown a pattern of misogyny (at least openly)from the time Obama was running during the primaries. The guy is also a mediocre comedian (see SNL episodes and solo performances) who has tried to vicariously inflate his sense of self-worth through Obama. It’s also no accident that Kenny Smith brought up only White women to be evaluated for “masturbation material.” I wonder what Morgan’s response would have been if the names of let’s say, Hale Berry or Byonce (I am not sure about the spelling) had been mentioned.
About Amanda, whatever her last name is, there are and always were many women like her who don’t have real gender consciousness, which makes them malleable material in the hands of their “employers,” the patriarchal system, and complicit in enacting their agenda. In fact, they actually exist in order to sustain the foundation of patriarchy, and block real change from taking place. They are like the Aztec “malinches” selling-out to the Spanish conquistadors. Real jewels, these people.
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Violet Socks says:
They are like the Aztec “malinches” selling-out to the Spanish conquistadors. Real jewels, these people.
I cannot resist pointing out that the myth of Malinche herself as a “sell-out” is very much a product of patriarchy.
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Violet Socks says:
“Oh, I hate Ms. Opfelberger, so I’ll spend the rest of my life fighting for women’s rights.” ?? Makes no sense. I know near-zero about Amanda M., and would just as soon keep it that way, but my brain is worrying this non sequitur like a bulldog with a smelly bone.
I don’t want this to turn into a colloquium on Just How Fucked Up Is Amanda Anyway?, but I also don’t want you to get sick on that bone. Suffice it to say Amanda’s feminism does not take the form of “fighting for women’s rights.” It takes the form of fighting for herself only. It’s Amanda vs. The World, and The World in her mind includes lots of hateful bitches who just want to keep her down.
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Grace says:
What incenses me is that entities like Ms. magazine and NARAL, plus pseudo-feminists such as Naomi Wolf, never had the decency to rectify their public statements or acknowledge their mistakes. NARAL prematurely caved in and endorsed Obama during the primaries, only to be dismissed a year later when Stupak prevailed with the boss in limiting access to abortion.
One way to advance real progress for women’s rights would be if women, represented by half of the population, would go out to the streets and do what the people of Egypt are doing right now: protest, express dissent, and make concrete demands. At least for sure it would scare the hell out of the patriarchal establishment.
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quixote says:
Violet, thank you! I kept checking back, but saw your answer just in time before I choked on the bone!
Me-ism = feminism. Interesting viewpoint, although not in a good way.
Grace, every time I see a statistic about women’s work, it’s way more than 50%. E.g. for Africa, the number 70% sticks in my mind. So, just one, good, united, strike and it would be game over. But, as Steve Biko said, the first weapon of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.
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quixote says:
(I.e. women’s work / productivity as a percentage of total work.)
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JeanLouise says:
Morgan’s comment would become magically, ragingly, sexist and objectifying if he made it about Michelle Obama.
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Sameol says:
Maybe, maybe not. There’d probably be a lot of pressure on Michelle Obama to be a “good sport” and pretend it’s no big deal, or even that she takes it as a compliment. I can’t see any members of Dudebro Nation getting into dudgeon defending Michelle Obama, except against Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin, etc. Kind of like how the Obot evangelicals of hope and change are now trying to organize a write-in campaign for Squeaky Clean New Politics Rahm and Carol Moseley-Braun mysteriously doesn’t move them to tears in quite the same transformative way. They really only tolerate
Michelle O to the extent that she’s traditionally supportive, non-threatening and doesn’t make waves. -
Grace says:
Quixote, when I spoke of women as half of the population (52 % last time I heard) I didn’t mean it in terms of women’s work but just in terms of numbers going to the streets to protest. I agree with you though, that women’s work represents a lot more; I don’t know about 70 % but not much lower than that here in the U.S.
About Michelle Obama, I (unlike Ms. magazine) know what a feminist looks like, and she is no feminist. On the contrary, we may all remember her comment about Hillary: “if she cannot run her own house, how can she run the White House?” The only time that I have seen her talk and pontificate with passion was when it came to promoting and defending her husband from evil and “monster” Hillary, and later from Sarah Palin (“don’t vote for cutie.”). After Obama was elected, and from the day of his inauguration, she literary disappeared. I guess she figured that her duty as a good “helpmate” had already been fulfilled.
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Sameol says:
I don’t particularly care for Michelle Obama because she was totally out-of-line in attacking Clinton and Palin like that, but I can’t particularly blame her for not taking more of a public role, either. I doubt I’d be brave enough to risk the wrath of Obama’s misogynist supporters by stepping out of that box and taking on anything more active/controversial than Lady Bird Johnson-type projects. And disappearing into the White House is much better than continuing down the Marcotte/Paglia route and continuing to attack other women and promote these anti-feminist memes, in my opinion. Better to not help than to keep actively harming.
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djmm says:
Thank you for this post, Violet.
Shameful behavior by Ms. Magazine. The least a feminist magazine can do is to treat women with respect. Challenge ideas, sure. If they don’t understand the difference, they should close shop. Perhaps a mag with real feminists would start up.
I stopped reading Amanda’s site long ago. I did not respect her work.
djmm
