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    The Palin Paradox

    Posted Monday, September 01, 2008 2:12 PM | By Dana Stevens
    The news that Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant has me thinking about the nuttily mixed messages that Palin's selection (and the media presentation thereof) sends out to women. It's a cornucopia of paradox: Her candidacy is somehow supposed to be a glass-ceiling-shattering inspiration, even though she actively opposes feminist causes like equal pay and reproductive choice. Her bearing of a Down syndrome baby while governing a state makes her a praiseworthy mother figure -- but don't forget that she's also a tireless workaholic (more than one profile has noted with awe that she was back at work three days after the birth of Trig in April.) Now the pro-life, devoutly Christian (yet sexy!) supermom has a knocked-up teen daughter ... but since we've already established that keeping your baby no matter what is a badge of moral honor, this development may actually enhance Palin's standing with the evangelical base. Forget about left and right for a moment: If you're a young girl looking for a role model of a woman running for high office, how do you decode all of this?
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