Politico Mag On Fiorina’s Brand Of Feminism: ‘Step One: Less Whining’

PORTSMOUTH, NH - OCTOBER 04: Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina speaks at a campaign event hosted by the Seacoast Republican Women on October 4, 2015 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. (Photo by Alfredo So... PORTSMOUTH, NH - OCTOBER 04: Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina speaks at a campaign event hosted by the Seacoast Republican Women on October 4, 2015 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. (Photo by Alfredo Sosa / The Christian Science Monitor MORE LESS

An article by two conservative writers published Wednesday in Politico Magazine looked at what it said was Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina’s style of feminism. The article carried the subhead: “Step one: Less whining.”

The article, written by American Enterprise Institute scholars Christina Hoff Sommers and Christine Rosen, argued that Fiorina is a feminist even though she’s a Republican.

From the article:

Fiorina might not be a feminist if the term is restricted to what LA Times columnist Meghan Daum has called the “liberal, abortion-rights supporting … reusable-eco-bag toting, dangling-earring-wearing” set. But, then, neither are most Americans. A recent Vox poll is typical: Only 18 percent of Americans identify as feminist.

Instead, Fiorina has offered us something better: a model of female power that is free of the whining and pandering that has for so long plagued modern feminism. It’s also a model a large number of Americans could embrace, regardless of party or gender—and one that could give the face of Republican Party politics a much needed makeover. While the media struggles to decide whether Fiorina is or isn’t a feminist, it’s possible they’re missing that her candidacy represents the beginning of a postfeminist era in politics, where what matters is a woman’s opportunity, not adherence to specific policies or a platform built on “women’s” issues.

The piece said Fiorina “doesn’t play the gender card,” but doesn’t hold back when responding to attacks on her because she’s a woman.

When GOP rival Donald Trump had made a remark on her face, Fiorina turned the comment around and made a quip that drew applause during the first debate.

The article said Fiorina “refuses to pander,” and noted that when she was asked what woman she would put on the $10 bill, Fiorina said it was, “a gesture” and wouldn’t change the bank note.

Read the whole thing here.

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  1. I’m not the one to argue whether or not Fiorina is a feminist.
    But since she’s an egoist first, there’s no room for second.

  2. Avatar for chammy chammy says:

    Amen to that. And besides being an egoist she is a vile, venomous, vicious bitch,

  3. No pandering? Must be a another Fiorina, not the one who lies about Planned Parenthood videos.

  4. I will. Its an absurd argument that attempts to redefine the term, while opening mocking it at the same time. “feminists are these silly people with dangling ear rings” + “Carly is a feminist we are proud of”.

    And whining is what Carly does best…always has been. Everyone is out to get her because she is a woman. That was her song at HP, that was her song in 2012, and its still her song now.

    And while I do appreciate that her jab at Trump was well done tactically, it was still “he is being mean to me because I am a woman”. She even accuses other women of using the gender card while she is in the middle of playing it herself.

    Just another Tigerbeat on the Potomac fluff piece on a fading candidate. The only odd thing here is that Politico is usually gleefully dancing on any candidate declining in the polls…so they can say “I told you so”.

  5. Avatar for enon enon says:

    i’m kind of enjoying watching how politico has sunk into irrelevance; when they had aspirations to much grander influence. hell, even mike allen who was a weekly presence on morningbro rarely gets airtime anymore…

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