I want to talk about real middle America in the upper Midwest.

First of all, I'm a male in my early twenties in my last semester at school and I was raised in North Dakota by a 60s feminist who doesn't subscribe to any litmus test. My mother stayed home to raise her kids and throughout the long haul of being a mom (my oldest sister is ten years my senior) served as head of the YWCA, PEO,and worked in any number of volunteer organizations (including at our Presbyterian church), writes a lauded and award winning weekly opinion column for the local paper, had a longstanding segment on public radio, and still found time to get her masters degree and teach freshmen English at a local University. Her hobbies include knitting, sewing, and gardening. My mother is exactly the kind of middle American feminist that you claim does has not existed and whose lifestyle is unacceptable to so-called elite feminists. Incredibly, she was raised by very conservative people and came to her tolerant and progressive worldview of her own accord (and persuaded my father, a man who voted for Reagan once, to do the same).

I write all this because my mother and sisters balk at the absurd notion that Sarah Palin represents a new kind of feminism. Just because Palin is a woman does not mean she is a feminist, nor does it mean she is a good representative of "real Main Street women". Sarah Palin does not come across as authentic because real people don't pepper their speech with excessive colloquialisms and condescending monikers (Joe six-pack? No one has ever actually said that) in order to prove their bona fides. She hasn't shown the ability to answer even basic policy questions (or even name a SINGLE periodical)! I don't think she's stupid but her willful ignorance (feigned or real) is insulting and condescending to true middle American feminists. I was raised to respect all but also to question everything and call a spade a spade.

Those are middle American values.

In addition, and this can't be repeated enough, Palin made women pay for their own rape kits! Feminist? You must be kidding.

Camille, I implore you to do some soul-searching. Perhaps it is you who is out of touch.