Letter to the editor

Feminism mistaken in popular culture

There are many faces of feminism, but not one of them belongs to Sarah Palin. Feminism is a highly fractured social movement, but if it has any cohesive ideal, it is to improve the condition of women everywhere.

Many people mistake that purpose. Due to the name of the Pro-Choice movement, feminism in popular culture has come to be perceived as “I am a woman, I am making a choice, therefore I am a feminist.” Wrong. Making a choice does not make you a feminist.

Women have always had and will always have a choice. For example, women have been choosing abortions for as long as they have known that they could. Making abortions illegal will not stop women from having them. The rich will fly off to another country for safe medical treatment, but the poor will use metal wire clothes hangers, as they have done in the past.

A woman who will stick a wire hanger into her internal organs is a woman who has already made her choice. No one can stop her from choosing to abort, not even the law.

Therefore, having the choice to abort is not at the heart of the Pro-Choice/Life debate. Justice is. The debate is really over whether women who want an abortion should be allowed safe medical treatment -- something one should be able to expect from any developed nation. It is just that women have access to safe healthcare, no matter if you agree with the choices they have made.

Feminism means fighting for justice for women. Sarah Palin is no feminist, and to truly understand why not it is essential to take a more than superficial look at her.

Marinda Bland
Student