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Friday, September 22, 2006 12:00 AM

Learning from the "accidental feminist"

Looking for lessons in Arianna Huffington's trajectory from feminism-basher to avowed feminist.

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Saturday, September 23, 2006 10:26 AM

uh oh

Here comes that circular firing squad again. Why do we do this.

In these terrible times, liberals can ill afford to tear each other to shreds. Is it really such a big sin to come to feminism for practical reasons--ie, self-interest--rather than ideological or intellectual reasons?

Conservatism stinks for women. Even if you're a rich woman. This is not the place to list how life for rich conservative women can be awful--but there's little place for single, intelligent women over there in wingnut land. Obviously it took a while for Arianna to come over, but now she is a convert. And that's a good thing, isn't it?

In any movement, rich people definitely have a place. Let's face it, their money keeps it all going. This is how those extreme wingnuts came to rule us--they have those wealthy movement donors who fund those think tanks, those initiatives, those lobbyists. On the liberal side, we have our "angel investors" too. If not for them, our story would rarely be told.

I'm glad to have Arianna on our side, flawed as she is. I'm happy that somebody is willing to finance a site like HuffingtonPost. I'm thrilled to see a woman go on TV and flog conservatives. And it's great that somebody cares that not enough women are being heard in the political debate. Somebody who can put their dollars behind their beliefs.

When I was a kid, there was just nobody that women could aspire to be. It's not a bad thing to have women, motivated by self-interest even, participating in American life, out there where girls and young women can see them do it.

I'd like to see MORE Ariannas out there! Send us more rich, self-interested women who think women are not being heard.

Friday, September 22, 2006 07:24 PM

Oh really

Huffington's message may galvanize, and that's great, but an accidental feminist is seldom as useful as an intentional one.

Unless you're an iFeminist, and then all you get for your trouble is a good hard public reaming.

Friday, September 22, 2006 01:21 PM

As much as I respect Arianna's turnaround,

it's easier to be fearless when you don't have the everyday fears that keep a lot of us up at night.

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