The Newer Feminism
ecretary of State successful American
7
Hillary Clinton’s woman still fi ghts to
seven-country sum- escape from beneath
mer trip to Africa the dwarfi ng shadow of
encapsulated two her husband, while that
contradictory per- same woman delivers
spectives on mod- the inarguable triumphs
ern feminism and the consequences of American feminism
of women’s liberation. to foreign shores.
In a moment that took hold in the So which paints the
American press, Clinton lost her cool more accurate picture?
when a Congolese university student There’s some truth in
asked her to relay her husband’s both, but Clinton’s pre-
opinion of an international economic carious position as a “pop
issue. “You want me to tell you what feminist icon,” as The Washington
VOICES
my husband thinks?” Post labeled her, highlights the dif-
The feminism of the 19th
she shot back. “My fi culty of summing up the collective
century formed the core
messages carried on by
husband is not secre- successes and failures of the wom-
Clare Boothe Luce (top)
tary of state. I am.” en’s movement, and raises the ques- and Shirley Chisholm.
For her support- tion: Is feminism still relevant today?
ers, this “you go, Quick answer: Yes. But as anyone Live. They made actual headlines in
girl!” kind of moment who survived the whiplashing effects the mainstream press.
ripped from the pages of the 2008 presidential campaign Palin, a hard-working, self-achiev-
of Betty Friedan’s The can attest, it’s not all that simple. ing, successful career woman and
S.E. Cupp is a New York
Feminine Mystique In that contest, a black man was mother of fi ve, is either the unequiv-
City-based writer who is
defi ning her own brand
raised questions elected president, and a woman, ocal result of feminism or the unin-
of feminism. She’s about just how far Hillary Clinton herself, gave him a tended consequence of it.
author of Why You’re
women have come serious run for his money, affi rm- In December 2008, Gallup’s
Wrong About The
Right with Brett Joshpe,
since the days when ing that both civil rights and gender annual Most Admired Woman poll
and is a regular guest on big-skirted, pie-bak- equality here in America have made put Hillary Clinton on top of the
Fox & Friends.
ing women were huge strides. list. Sarah Palin was next, ahead of
viewed as second- But at the same time, sniping Oprah Winfrey, Angelina Jolie, Ellen
class citizens compared with their behind the scenes about Clinton’s DeGeneres, and Michelle Obama. So
bread-winning husbands. unfair treatment at the hands of the who is the feminist icon, Clinton or
But the other story that emerged press and the Obama team reveals Palin? Such ambiguities crystallize
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from the Africa trip was Secretary all is not quiet on the feminist front. the struggle for women and prompt a
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of State Clinton’s addressing of gen- Clinton supporters claimed she was retrospective on the complicated and
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der inequality on another continent held to unfair standards because controversial feminism movement.
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rather than here, where most would she is a woman; she was subject to
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agree that women’s rights issues — undue scrutiny that the boys club
8LI0SRK7XVYKKPI I
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suffrage, equality in education and could simply avoid. 9T[EVH
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the workplace — largely have been And it wasn’t happening just on
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won. Instead, she spoke with female the Democratic side of the ticket.
farmers in Kenya, heard from rape Infi nitely worse than Clinton’s 4
op culture has left us with
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colorful, if insuffi cient, icono-

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graphic relics of the feminist
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victims in the Congo, toured hous- struggles were the persistent attacks movement in the United States —

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ing projects built by impoverished on conservative vice presidential can- bra burning, Betty Friedan, Roe v.
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women in South Africa. didate Sarah Palin, who was assailed Wade, and marches on the Mall are
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Clearly women’s issues abroad — by women especially — for posi- the go-to View-Master moments that
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are a big part of her diplomatic plat- tions that feminists characterize as we remember most readily, clickable
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form, and the injustices there offer a anti-woman. Her intelligence, her snapshots of a signifi cant American
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startling contrast to the lives women pedigree, her family, her accent, her movement that can’t possibly offer
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in America have come to enjoy and hairstyle, her high heels didn’t just an accurate panorama. For many
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demand. Two stories, two commen- provide fodder for the gossip maga- women in their 20s and early 30s,
©
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taries on modern feminism: A wildly zines, or scripts for Saturday Night those are the only moments that
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64
NEWSMAX / NOVEMBER 2009
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