Is feminism being undermined by Republicans and the media?

Sarah Palin, Republican media icon

Several years ago On The Issues Magazine theme was "The Conning of
the Feminists," telling us that Republican media icons are set up specifically to undermine and pervert female values.

Some of the right-wing media and neo-cons use an array of ideas in opposition to values set by feminists, of independence and women's rights.  It was reflected in the Hillary Clinton famous presentation of herself as a cookie-baking mother in order to counteract the Republican women in the female department.

Sarah Palin is but one of the neo-cons claiming feminism that according to On the Issues doesn't have "a single teabag’s worth of feminist values."Instead she, and other female right-wingers, according to the article,encourage women to view themselves through a patriarchal prism.

 The issue looked also at another “con” of feminists, as well, this from a consumerist media that is encouraging women to view their feminist selves in an ever-so-convenient patriarchal package.

Tanya Melich, the former Republican insider and author who showed us the inside of the GOP Party’s anti-woman agenda in her book The Republican War Against Women,  reveals again how Republican women icons are undermining women's gains and ideas.   In her article,  “Next Chapter in the ‘Republican War Against Women’.” Melich articulates the GOP’s tactic of putting women candidates like Sarah Palin on the front line, only to lead the same, longstanding efforts against women’s rights and
freedoms.

In "Fighting the Black Anti-Abortion Campaign: Trusting Black Women"SisterSong’s Loretta Ross tackles a growing threat facing the African American community,  the anti-choice campaign pushing lies of racism to coerce and shame women of color into continuing their unwanted pregnancies.  She maintains that by doing this the campaign undermines black women's autonomy.

On The Issues Magazine is a progressive, feminist, quarterly online magazine.  The advocacy of women's rights continues to be its principal theme, even as it leads into border issues that relate to women and men as well.

In 2013 the Washington Post offered an article entitled, "Feminism is dead! Long live feminism.  The article points out that patriarchy is dead, so the big fight for recognition and equality in that sense is dead.  In 2015, however, the feminist movement, just like in 2013 may be dead as far as patriarchy is concerned but like the Washington Post writer points out the groping from the guys at any female with a decent body walking down the street is not dead.  The sexism continues that way, as it is influenced and underlined by the Miley Cyrus girls.  That's girls, some might well say, as women who have learned a lot know better than to call attention to bodies, then hypocritically shout to be known then for their brains. 

The fact is that as young women take the one-down position, or applaud the sexy stars like Miley Cyrus that parade their bodies in overtly sexy ways the 1960's women said were selling out themselves, the downgrade of those women who stood up for women's rights is part of the sell-out part that many of the old-timers worry about.  For those hard-fought rights could be recalled with the Republican agenda that seems to be a part of future planning for the right wing of the party, even as one attempt to cripple abortion rights was defeated not long ago.

Yet while there are the shrill of voices in the feminist crowd who shout for justice and the anti-feminist group whose head-down, pout-lipped style would make the former cringe, most women are still mainstream, with a moderate stance on most areas impacting women's rights.

It is unlikely the extreme right or left will dominate women, after the fairer sex brushed off the male domination years ago, looking for freedom to work, think and act as individuals with brains as well as bodies.  They won't so long as there remains one baby boomer plus a bit willing to take up the banner and march if the young ones give up the cause that women know remains in one form or another.