Gloria Steinem on Sarah Palin

I saw the notice of this over at Feminist Law Profs; the Steinem op-ed appears in today's Los Angeles Times. The title is "Palin: Wrong Woman, Wrong Message" and the subhead quotes from Steinem's piece: "Sarah Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Hillary Clinton. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger."

Steinem writes:

Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president.

After labeling John McCain the "real culprit," Steinem argues that he chose Palin to curry favor with "right-wing ideologues." She continues:

Palin's value to those patriarchs is clear: She opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves "abstinence-only" programs, which increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions . . .

The entire column is well worth a read.

Don't forget that Steinem will be at UC Davis, at the Mondavi Center, on January 16, 2009.