Tea party women : mama grizzlies, grassroots leaders, and the changing face of the American right / Melissa Deckman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Deckman, Melissa M. (Melissa Marie), 1971- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Tea Party movement.

Women--Political activity--United States.

Women.

Women--Political activity.

Right and left (Political science).

United States.

Right and left (Political science)--United States.

United States--Politics and government.

Politics and government.

Physical Description:

xi, 343 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : New York University Press, [2016]

Summary:

Notable For Its Radical Right-Wing Views, the Tea Party is progressive in one way that much of mainstream US politics is not: the Tea Party has among its most vocal members not spokesmen but spokeswomen, from Michele Bachmann to Sarah Palin to Senator Joni Ernst. In this book, Melissa Deckman explores the role of women in creating and leading the movement and the greater significance of women's involvement in the Tea Party for our understanding of female political leadership and the future of women in the American Right. Through national-level public opinion data, observation at Tea Party rallies, and interviews with female Tea Party leaders, Deckman demonstrates that many women find the grassroots, decentralized nature of the Tea Party to be more inclusive for them than mainstream Republican politics. She lays out the ways in which these women gain traction by recasting conservative political issues such as the budget deficit and gun control as issues affecting families, and how they rely on traditional gender roles as mothers and homemakers to underscore their particular expertise in understanding these issues- Furthermore, she examines how many Tea Party women claim to write off traditional feminist issues like reproductive rights and gender discrimination as distracting from the "real" issues affecting women, such as economic policies, and how some even reclaim the mantel of "feminism" as signifying freedom and independence from government overreach-tactics that have over time been adopted by mainstream Republicans. Whether the Tea Party terrifies or fascinates you, Tea Party Women provides a behind-the-scenes look at the women behind an enduring and influential faction in American politics. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction: Mama Grizzlies Rising Up 1

2 Top Conservatives and Grassroots Leaders: The Women behind the Tea Party 30

3 A New Civic Motherhood? The Evolution of Conservative Women's Political Rhetoric 98

4 The Sexist Safety Net Free Enterprise as Feminist Principle 132

5 Freedom Feminism: Individualism, Conservatism, and Gender Roles 175

6 Guns Are the Great Equalizer: Mama Grizzlies and the Right to Bear Arms 214

7 Conclusion: Tea Party Women and the Future of American Politics 242.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-326) and index.

ISBN:

9781479837137

147983713X

9781479866427

1479866423

OCLC:

926743495