The Palin effect
By Colleen Carroll Campbell

Call it the Palin effect. A passel of conservative women candidates surged to
primary victories last week, fueling speculation that 2010 will be another
political "Year of the Woman," akin to 1992. This time, the women stars lean
right, not left. And whether they like it or not, most shoulder the same
baggage as their most famous sister-in-arms, former Alaska governor Sarah
Palin.

A Tea Party favorite and populist icon, Palin's endorsement has helped propel
several conservative women candidates to victory even as she has continued to
draw fierce criticism from women on the left. Her speech at last month's
fundraiser for the Susan B. Anthony List — the pro-life answer to the
pro-choice Emily's List — was a case in point. Some women howled at Palin's use
of feminist rhetoric to challenge abortion rights, while others cheered her for
reclaiming a feminist label they believe has been hijacked by abortion
radicals.

For her part, Palin seemed to relish tweaking the feminist establishment that
has savaged her for everything from her makeup and hairstyle to her teenage
daughter's pregnancy, casting her as an "Aunt Tom" whose conservative values
make even her identity as a woman suspect.

"For far too long, when people heard the word 'feminist,' they thought of the
faculty lounge at some East Coast women's college," Palin said, grinning as her
audience chuckled with her. "And no offense to them; they have their opinions
and their voice and God bless 'em, they're just great. But that's not the only
voice of women in America."

The other voice — that of what Palin called "an emerging, conservative,
feminist identity" — tells young women "that they are strong enough and smart
enough, they are capable to be able to handle an unintended pregnancy ... in
addition to pursuing career and pursuing education and pursuing avocations."
Behind this voice is what Palin described as a forgotten strain of early
American feminism: that of the "tough, independent, pioneering mothers" whose
heirs are today's "common-sense, constitutional, conservative women."

Many Republicans harbor doubts about Palin's policy acumen and electability as
a presidential candidate. But her political significance always has been about
more than her own candidacy. In a Beltway bubble that constantly recycles the
same old policies and personalities, Palin is the herald of something genuinely
new: a rising crop of women candidates whose "frontier feminism," as Palin
calls it, embraces marriage and motherhood, fiscal restraint and liberty from
big government.

It is ironic that the very woman America's feminist establishment most despises
has done more than any other in recent memory to revive feminism's political
and cultural relevance. By boldly declaring her conservative views while
championing a woman's place in public life, Palin has breathed new life into
moribund debates about what it means to be a liberated woman. Many women who
once ran from the feminist label now embrace it — with Palin's crucial caveats
of "pro-family and pro-life."

Unfortunately, Palin's rise has exposed some ugly truths about the way women
often treat each other in public life. From the early Internet rumors about the
true parentage of her son, Trig, to this week's flap over her breast size,
self-professed women's rights advocates have led the way in vilifying Palin
with personal attacks that would be denounced as unacceptably sexist if
perpetrated by men. When Palin's name comes up, many otherwise mature women
commentators seem unable to restrain themselves from reverting to junior-high
mode and savaging with catty insults the classmate prettier and more popular
than they.

It's an awkward sight, watching accomplished and supposedly progressive women
acting out a scene from "Mean Girls" whenever they catch a glimpse of Palin.
It's no less awkward when conservative women indulge in such pettiness, as in
the case of Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina, caught on mic last week snickering at
Sen. Barbara Boxer's hair.

The candidates driving this new "Year of the Woman" will face their share of
sexist slights, many of them from the so-called sisterhood. Here's hoping they
stand tough, stick to the issues and prove that a frontier feminist has as much
right as the next woman to define the future of her country and of the women's
movement that speaks in her name.

Colleen Carroll Campbell is an author, former presidential speechwriter and
television and radio host of "Faith & Culture" on EWTN. Her website is
www.colleen-campbell.com.