A Serwer: "Feminists may not embrace Palin as one of them, but that's not the same as saying she's not 'a real woman.' That's the kind of argument conservatives make about feminists."

Wendy Doniger, Washington Post: "[Palin's] greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense that she is a woman."

So what you're saying is that Brooks should have written, "One self-identified feminist, Wendy Doniger, even said she wasn't a woman," rather than arguing that " the feminists" say that.

Who the heck is Wendy Doniger?

I would say there's a lot here that can't exactly be quantified; I've been surprised at just how angry and dismissive some of the lefty reaction has been, and that includes a number of feminist commenters. It may not be as simple as "she's not a real woman," but at the same time saying that feminists are upset only about issues like abortion is a miss, too. That some feminists criticize Palin on her stances on issues is true... but more than a few lefties seem determined to judge Palin for her life choices (like her own pregnancies and continuing working and campaigning while Trig is small) and decisions (not just accepting Bristol's pregnancy as a knock on abortion, but for what it says about having a pregnant teen child). To pretend that there aren't value judgments happening where views on Palin are concerned seems wishful. And I don't think it undermines Brooks' overall point that the discussion of Palin has separated from actually asking about whether she's the right person for a job to note some difficult reactions on the left. Brooks may not understand feminism in all its nuances, but he's not entirely wrong, either.

Who are these lefty feminists of whom you speak? Name some names. And let's not get hung up on the "not a real woman" silliness either. It's not the point, and Brooks and everyone else knows it. The question is how much of a feminist can she be based on the politics and policies she supports? The problems with Sarah Palin go beyond her wish to force women to be preganant against their will, unless the outcome puts them on the other side of death's door. She's conducted her political career with cronyism and self-dealing that penalize competence and transparency. She and her party favor policies that make it harder for ordinary women to earn a decent living or challenge workplace discrimination. I've heard nothing about any active, substantive steps she's taken to promote women's rights, or to support education and training for low-wage workers (many of whom are single women raising families on their own). She's certainly received many benefits from Second Wave feminism, but like many conservatives, she wants to be able to say she's "feminist" without doing much of anything to advance feminist ideals of social and economic partity for women. You don't get to be a feminist just by being female. And if this sounds like a value judgment, well, yeah, it is.

Remember when Nancy Pelosi described herself as a "conservative Catholic?" And how eager conservative Catholics were to defend her right to describe herself as such?

No? Well, that's probably because they choked on their outrage that she would describe herself as either - and still do.

But those same conservatives want us to call Sarah Palin a feminist because she's . . . a woman? And call our categories "too rigid?"

You know, when those same conservatives stop trying to tell people who is and isn't a Christian or a particular type of Christian, then maybe I'll buy their criticism of other people's rigidity.

Senator Clinton and Governor Palin are proof that women can and do diverge on important issues.

Even on the question of whether women should vote!

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Suffragettes were opposed by many women!

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weboy, it really isn't that feminism is all about abortion. Obviously, the pro-choice position is closely identified with feminism, but it is possible to be strongly supportive of the other parts of the feminist agenda while disagreeing on abortion.

The problem is, such people are very rare in reality, because most opposition to abortion correlates with deep disagreements to the sexual revolution and the liberation of female sexuality.

Where is Sarah Palin on equal pay for women? Where is she on sexual harassment laws? Where is she on paid family leave? Where is she on subsidized daycare?

It's not that she isn't a real woman-- it's that she isn't a real feminist.