by A. Jacobina Poulsen

Created on: January 06, 2011   Last Updated: April 05, 2012

Why do people love to hate Sarah Palin?  Well, for one thing, they have been conditioned to. From the moment that John McCain named her as his vice-presidential running mate, it seemed everyone from her political opponents to television personalities set out to shape public opinion and Sarah Palin's image .  The image and opinion they promoted was a very negative one. The goal was to destroy Palin and prevent her from gaining popularity.

Sarah Palin is a strong-minded woman, sure of her conservative values.  She has successfully blended her varying roles as wife, mother, mayor and finally Governor of Alaska.  She married and pursued a career while raising a family.  She believes firmly in the principles our country was founded upon and stands strong in defense of the Constitution.  Sarah Palin epitomizes the feminist dream of "having it all", the stated goal of the feminist movement from its inception. One would expect her to have strong support from feminists and politicos alike for her accomplishments, but instead she is subject to derision and the constant insinuation that she is unintelligent. All of these accusations are accepted as fact without any evidence offered.  When asked why people object to her so strongly, the response is often that "her voice is so shrill", "she's so stupid", or "she's mean-spirited".

Why do people love to hate Sarah Palin?  They have to do so in order to maintain their political ideology.  She is everything we have told women should be and more, but she refuses to adopt the political positions of the feminist definition which is the standard that women are judged by.  She didn't falter from her principles when she became pregnant in middle age and discovered her child would have Down's Syndrome.  Palin is pro-life and lived out her principles by having the baby, her fifth child.  While some might expect this to garner her admiration, her willingness to "walk the walk" did not gain her any points with her more liberal feminist counterparts. 

It is disheartening to think that after all these years of progress, an attractive, intelligent, attractive woman wielding power would still be so frightening to a portion of the public.  It is more disheartening to think that some women would not decry such vicious attacks on a woman who has been living the dreams first voiced in the long-forgotten struggle for the never-realized Equal Rights Amendment.
What other modern

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