Cosmo, Camille and the Next Gen of Feminists

 
Camille Paglia wrote a great piece for Salon back in the fall about how Sarah Palin personifies the 3rd wave of feminism:

“I felt that Palin represented an explosion of a brand new style of muscular American feminism. At her startling debut on that day, she was combining male and female qualities in ways that I have never seen before.”

Now comes a book about Helen Gurley Brown, the redoubtable former editor of Cosmo, who is cited as representative of the 2nd wave of feminism. http://www.salon.com/books/review/2009/04/12/gurley_brown/index.html

Some may argue that the Britney Spear tartlets who embody a lot of what Gurley Brown celebrated actually set feminism back. But Gurley Brown herself claimed to be a strong feminist.

The first wave of feminists were clearly political. The second wave has apparently been sexual. The pendulum appears to be swinging back to political feminism—the question is, who else among the current female senators, governors and representatives is part of that 3rd wave model?

Camille Paglia on Sarah Palin’s debut, John McCain’s rebirth, and Barack Obama’s tenuous position | Salon.