Sarah Palin, Sex & the Republicans

by iraqivetwifeforchange | September 7, 2008 at 04:47 pm

1278 views | 6 Recommendations | 14 comments

9.04.2008

Sarah Palin, Sex & the Republicans by Jeff Siegel

This post is not about Sarah Palin’s daughter getting pregnant — her unwed, 17-year-old daughter. That’s the family’s business, and I’m not here to judge.

What I am here to do is to sound the hypocrisy siren as loud as possible — as in, I'm getting damn tired of Republicans using sex as part of their family values campaign. Or, as former Senator George McGovern told the American Conservative in 2006, discussing his 1980 election defeat to Republican Jim Abdnor:

“It ticked me off, and it was also kind of laughable. A group called American Family Index rated us. I came out with a zero, Jim Abdnor got a perfect score. Here I am a guy who has been married to the same woman for 37 [now 64] years with five children and ten grandchildren and I’m running against Jim Abdnor, a 58-year-old bachelor who gets a 100 percent rating. I’m not against 58-year-old bachelors, not for one minute, but they’re hardly a symbol of what promotes the American family.”

That election was the first in which the Republicans clubbed voters with the family values cudgel, which means that they get to tell everyone how to live their lives without paying the least bit of attention themselves to the rules they impose on others.

• Ronald Reagan, who was divorced, estranged from his daughter, wasn't especially religious, and whose son was living with a woman he wasn't married to, criticized the federal government for wrecking the family.

• Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, who has been married three times, is a featured speaker at the Family Research Council's third annual Values Voter Summit.

• James Dobson, the fundamentalist who runs Focus on the Family, believes that, "According to God's plan, sexual intimacy is the exclusive prerogative of husband and wife within the context of marriage." Yet when Gov. Palin (R-AK) announced that her daughter was five months pregnant, Dobson said "The media are already trying to spin this as evidence Gov. Palin is a 'hypocrite,' but all it really means is that she and her family are human."

To be clear: it really doesn't matter how Republicans behave at home; it isn't any of our business to poke into their private lives, including their sex lives. But why can't they extend that same courtesy to the rest of us and stop dictating what they say are their morals and standards?

Of course, if Palin was a Democrat and all this news turned up about her and her family, she would be labeled as a Godless, atheistic Bolshevik. And who said this was going to be a dull campaign?

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jackdaniels

at 17:56 on September 7th, 2008

"I'm getting damn tired of Republicans using sex as part of their family values
campaign."

No wonder democrats are always negative. If they had as much sex as republicans they wouldn't be so uptight.

bill hicks

at 17:57 on September 7th, 2008

So that is the problem. Bill Clinton was a different democrat.

jackdaniels

at 18:00 on September 7th, 2008

Republicans are the sex party. They should replace the elephant with a bunny.

jackdaniels

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 18:00 on September 7th, 2008

iraqivetwifeforchange, I like this story. It's good stuff.

master_jim2008

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 18:05 on September 7th, 2008

iraqivetwifeforchange, I like this story. It's good stuff. Well, you have to realize one thing. I happen to know personally that Nixon was the one responsible for wrecking the family as you put it. I was there when his sociologists told him that the only way to maintain control of the people after Vietnam was to destroy the family structure and individualize EVERYONE. And of course Nixon was a Republican as well.

What gets me is that the Republicans take such a high moral ground about sex and then try to foist their views via laws on the American people, but cry foul when the press goes after someone like former governor Jim McGreevy for coming out of the closet or Senator Larry (Tapdancing in the mens room) Craig gets busted. It's total hypocracy

And Jerry Falwell, I know you're listening to me from hell, AIDS was NOT God's way of spanking us for being immoral lol

But then again, you may know that by now, while rotting in hell (WEG)

bill hicks

at 18:15 on September 7th, 2008

Falwell repented about a year before he died, so I don't think you will meet him when you die.

Emilio Lizardo

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 18:34 on September 7th, 2008

Sex in Advertising
Level(s): Grades 11 - 12

Overview
To introduce students to the use and prevalence of sexuality in advertising.

Learning Outcomes

Students will demonstrate:

an understanding of the multiple meanings of sexuality
an understanding of the ways in which the media capitalizes on sex to sell a wide variety of products
an understanding of thevalue systems underlying sexualized media messages

Preparation and Materials
Task Sheet
Prepare these overhead transparencies

Sex
Sex Sells
Sex Has Multiple Meanings
Biological
Emotional
Spiritual
Power

For this class you may use advertisements from magazines brought in by students or choose from the advertisements listed below

Calvin Klein
Versace
Gasoline Jeanswear
Escape Perfume
Budweiser Beer
Wonderbra
Comparison Ads
The Lesson

Place the first overhead, Sex, onto the projector. Ask your students

Does this word get your attention?
Why does it get your attention?
It is human nature to be curious about sex. You know this and so do advertisers.

Place the Sex Sells overhead onto the projector

In the marketing world it is no secret that sex sells. But what is sex?

Place the Sex Has Multiple Meanings overhead onto the projector.

When we define sexuality, we can look at it from a biological, emotional/physical or spiritual point of view.

Ask your students for a biological definition of sexuality. After giving them an opportunity to come up with their own definitions, place Biological overhead onto the projector. Points to consider are:

from a biological standpoint, sex is a reproductive mechanism
it is a basic biological drive that exists in all species
it is hormonally controlled

Ask your students for an emotional, or physical definition of sexuality. Once they have suggested their own definitions, place the Emotional overhead onto the projector, reinforcing the idea that:

sex represents a bond between two individuals
it is an expression of profound emotional feelings
it is a physical manifestation of emotions of love, trust, and caring

Ask your students for a spiritual definition of sexuality. After they have brainstormed definitions, place the Spiritual overhead onto the projector, emphasizing that from a spiritual perspective

sex is an expression of inner human spiritual life
it is an ethereal, unearthly connection between two individuals

But sex is not always used positively. What are some ways that sex can be used in a negative manner? Sometimes, sexuality can be used to dominate or control another individual. (Place Power overhead onto the projector.)

When sexuality is used in advertising, certain values and attitudes towards sex are being 'sold' to consumers along with the products. The overriding question that must be asked when deconstructing any advertisement, is "what underlying message is being sold by this ad?"

Ask students what messages they receive from the following (or similar) ads:

Calvin Klein (the message that innocence is sexy - the concept of the "sexy virgin" - most often through the depiction of young people in provocative poses.
Versace, featuring Madonna (linking pain and violence with sexiness and glamour)
Gasoline Jeanswear and Escape Perfume (When men dominate, the result is both natural and sexy, and women enjoy being dominated in this way.)
Budweiser Beer (If women could choose, they would sell sex whenever they could - that if you buy a certain product, the woman comes with it.)
Wonderbra (Women are sexual objects to be looked at and played with - naughty but legal.)

Historically, the trend in advertising has been to eroticize women more often than men. However, in recent years we have begun to see young men portrayed in a similar manner, though you are still more likely to see women sexualized in advertisements. This becomes very apparent when you look at ads that depict couples together, or in advertising campaigns that use men and women to advertise the same product. (Distribute Comparison Ads or similar advertisements among students.)

Ask your students

Why do you think women tend to be sexualized more often than men?
Why might young men now be sexualized in the same manner?

iraqivetwifeforchange

at 19:03 on September 7th, 2008

I wanted to add a few names to the list of Republicans from the previous report:

1. John McCain, who applied for a marriage license to his now wife, Cindy, before his divorce was final with his first wife. Also, according to his own divorce decree, was cohabitating with Cindy for 9 months while still living with his first wife.

2. Karl Rove, married for 4 years in 1976, divorced, married again in 1986.

3. Sarah Palin and her own shotgun wedding (do the math). Had "witnesses" rather than go to her church, you know since she is a devout Christian and all.

4. Rush Limbaugh, married 3 times. Divorced 3 times. Do I need to say more?

5. Rupert Murdoch, owns Fox News, and over 130 news publications, all known for their conservative views and editorials. Divorced 2 times, married a 3rd time to a Chinese born woman more than 38 years his junior. Here's an odd twist...though you'd never suspect it by watching Fox News.... In a 2008 interview with Walt Mossberg, Murdoch was asked whether he had "anything to do with the New York Post's endorsement of Barack Obama." Without hesitation, Murdoch replied, "Yeah. He is a rock star. It's fantastic. I love what he is saying about education. I don't think he will win Florida...but he will win in Ohio and the election. I am anxious to meet him. I want to see if he will walk the walk."

I know of several more, but I decided to keep it short. I love how they deem themselves the "family values" party. A lot of hype over Palin for being "family values". I think if you asked people what family values meant, there would no be one single answer, but rather many. If conservative voters care about family values, why do they consistantly support people who do not ?

at 20:50 on September 8th, 2008

If conservative voters care about family values, why do they consistantly support people who do not ?

Many fiscal conservatives don't care about family values. They will vote for anyone who can defeat a socialist.

As for the family values voters, most of them are Christians. The bible is full of stories about terrible people who's lives where changed by God and served God's purpose. Most Christians don't care too much about someone's past unless they think it's a predictor of how they will behave in the future.

I don't think Christians are all that excited about Rove, Limbaugh or even McCain. Most are probably unaware of Murdoch. But there seems to be a real love affair between them and Palin.

iraqivetwifeforchange

at 19:09 on September 7th, 2008

Jack Daniels,

Some of us are happily married, and we have no compaints in that department. Thank you very much.

bill hicks

at 10:38 on September 8th, 2008

David, Solomon, Jacob, .........

An elder is to be a man with one wife. Are any of them elders?

at 20:34 on September 8th, 2008

Dr. Dobson, didn't say Palin's daughter was "right" for getting pregnant. But moving on and doing the right thing, having the baby, is what Christains believe matters.

Christains don't believe they go to heaven because they are free of sin, they believe they go to heaven because they admit their sin, ask God's forgiveness and attmept to do better.

Andreika (not verified)

at 11:35 on October 1st, 2008

People, sorry....but ummm , it doesn't matter what Palin does. She is hot AND conservative. So no matter what she cannot be wrong. I was going to vote for McCain before he recruited Palin, but I wasn't a hardcore supporter. I just refuse to vote for a socialist like Obama. However, when McCain made Palin his VP....I became a die hard McCain/Palin supporter! It was the best choice he made yet!

Shelly For Choice (not verified)

at 11:40 on October 1st, 2008

Andreika! You are insane! You vote for someone based on how attractive she is to you? I can't think of anything MORE shallow than that! Men like you should not even be ALLOWED to vote, no one who votes based on someone's appearnce should be able to! And Palin IS NOT that attractive. Why does everyone think she is so hot? Besides, it infuriates me that her 17 year old daughter got pregnant and she wouldn't even allow her get an abortion! If MY teenage daughter got knocked up, that would be the first place we'd be headed...the local Planned Parenthood. You sound like you have A LOT of growing up to do Andreika.