Sarah. Palin.

I'm going to be as succinct as possible: this woman is Phyllis Schlafly, only vastly more dangerous. She must be defeated at all costs. To allow anyone to hold her up as a triumph of feminism is a profound insult to all those women who struggled before us.

In order to be feminist, one does not have to be a woman. In order to be feminist, one must do things that benefit all women. Sarah Palin's political beliefs (from what little we know of them) do not do anything to help women and, in fact, would hurt a lot of women. Specifically, poor women and women of color. I realize that the feminist movement has been derelict in its duty to help these women for a lot of its history, but that's no reason to totally abandon them now. Any public figure who endorses Bush's economic policies cannot be called feminist. Period. By increasing overall poverty, these policies have put more women in poverty, because there is a large proportion of women in poverty to begin with. Poverty is not good for women. Poverty is not good for anyone. And, for those who care, poverty is not pro-life. If you care about family values in the traditional sense, you should be doing all you can to lift women out of poverty.

Next, Sarah Palin is that girl who has gotten ahead based on the struggles of feminist women, but now spurns their sacrifice. She went to college. Do you know how many women had to fight so that she could do that? Sarah Palin got to marry for love. Do you know how many women never had that choice? Sarah Palin chose to have a large family. But that was her choice. Her daughter is having a child. Palin herself has described this as "Bristol's choice." She made a decision to carry this child to term and to raise this child. She was not forced into it by the government. But Sarah Palin would deny other women this choice, giving the government an astonishing amount of control over their bodies and reproductive capacities.

Finally, as to all the talk about whether it is appropriate to ask questions about Palin's family life: yes. In the first place, it's pretty much all we have to go on, as she has very little in the way of professional achievements. Secondly, SHE MADE IT AN ISSUE. When asked about her qualifications, she puts her family front and center. It's like giving testimony in court: if you open the door, don't be surprised when people walk through it. If you tout your experience as a mother as part of your qualification for a job, then it's going to come under scrutiny. We have every right to know as much as possible about someone who could potentially be the President of the United States (especially when the man at the top of the ticket isn't exactly a spring chicken). How dare the GOP call us sexist for wanting to know what qualifies this woman to be President?

Sarah Palin does harm to strong women anytime she refers to herself as a "pit bull" or "barracuda," because it implies that strong women are brutal, illogical or threatening. Thanks, Sarah, for setting us back 100 years. Thanks for showing us that women can be just as anti-intellectual as men. Thanks for showing us how hypocritical you can be, standing on the shoulders of generations of feminist activists to achieve what you have and then turning around and spitting in their faces by being a misogynist as any man. We all knew John McCain had women issues. But I don't think any of us expected him to find a woman who would reinforce them.

Ladies out there: you need to take this personally. This woman's rhetoric about being "everywoman" does in fact appeal to a lot of women (even though is totally delegitimizes the experiences of single women, women of color, poor women, etc.). You need to challenge this at every level. Talk to all the women you know and explain to them why Sarah Palin cannot be trusted. Explain why she is bad for women. Implore them not to waste their vote on someone who best exemplifies the empty promises that the GOP has made to women. Yes, we need female voices in our public life. But we need female voices that actually care about women. Feminism isn't about individual achievement; it's about helping all women, ending discrimination, making an equal playing field. Sarah Palin doesn't get that, and that she can't see the debt she owes feminists makes her even more dangerous than a misogynist man. Because she should know better.