Tea Party, mouvement féministe ?

Tea Party, mouvement féministe ?

Désormais, après la journée des primaires du 14 septembre, Tea Party est l’objet de toutes les attentions. Un point intéressant est la composition du mouvement par sexe, qui donne une forte majorité (55%) aux femmes, avec une direction également marquée dans ce sens (six des huit membres du comité qui coordonne le mouvement sont des femmes). Nombre de personnalités de Tea Party ou proches de Tea Party qui ont atteint la célébrité sont des femmes, au point qu'on cherche en vain un homme qui puisse apparaître comme symbolique du mouvement, comme peut l'être aujourd'hui une Christine O’Donnell. On sait enfin la proximité grandissante de Tea Party de Sarah Palin.

Peggy Dexter, professeur de psychologie, s’interroge le 16 septembre 2010 sur HuffingtonPost, à propos de cette particularité du mouvement :

«There's no doubt that women are good for the Tea Party. But is the Tea Party good for women? There is no simple answer to that because the Tea Party is notably short on simple answers to anything…»

Dans son texte, Dexter renvoie à un autre texte (de Hanna Rosin) du 12 mai 2010, dans Slate, qui documente cette présence féminine. Avec cette question de savoir si Tea Party n’est pas, au fait, un mouvement féministe... (Moyennant quoi, il faudra s'employer à revoir ou à élargir la notion de “féminisme” avec ce qu'il faut d'ironie à l'esprit, quand on connaît les positions sur la sexualité, sur la famille, etc., du mouvement, telles que manifestée par quelques-unes de ses prima donnas [ou prime donne].)

«Is the Tea Party a women's movement? More women than men belong—55 percent, according to the latest Quinnipiac poll. And while no movement that uses Michelle Malkin as a poster girl could fairly be described as feminist, the party has become an insta-network for ambitious women like Zelenik. Some are aspiring candidates who could never get traction within the tight, local Republican Party networks. Some are angry-mom-activist types who, like their heroine Sarah Palin, outgrew the PTA. But some would surprise you with their straightforward feminist rage. For the last few years Anna Barone, a Tea Party leader from Mount Vernon, N.Y., has used the e-mail handle annaforhillary.com: “The way they treated Hillary is unforgiveable, and then they did it to Sarah Palin,” she said. “I've been to 15 Tea Party meetings and never heard a woman called a name just because she's powerful. I guess you could say the Tea Party is where I truly became a feminist.”

»If the Tea Party has any legitimate national leadership, it is dominated by women. Of the eight board members of the Tea Party Patriots who serve as national coordinators for the movement, six are women. Fifteen of the 25 state coordinators are women. One of the three main sponsors of the Tax Day Tea Party that launched the movement is a group called Smart Girl Politics. The site started out as a mommy blog and has turned into a mobilizing campaign that trains future activists and candidates. Despite its explosive growth over the last year, it is still operated like a feminist cooperative, with three stay-at-home moms taking turns raising babies and answering e-mails and phone calls. Spokeswoman Rebecca Wales describes it as a group made up of “a lot of mama bears worried about their families.” The Tea Party, she says, is a natural home for women because “for a long time people have seen the parties as good-ole'-boy, male-run institutions. In the Tea Party, women have finally found their voice.” [...]

»Like other Tea Party ideologies, the movement's feminist streak is not always consistent or coherent. But affiliated women candidates take away a unifying narrative that taps into both traditionalism and feminist rage. It's the feminism of the 1980 Dolly Parton movie 9 to 5, part anger against the good ole' boys and part “leave me alone.” Candidate Liz Carter complains about the lack of women in any congressional seats in Georgia. Fox analyst Angela McGowan, running for Congress in Mississippi, calls herself a “warrior.” Christine O'Donnell, running for Senate in Delaware, claims she's an antidote to the “lords of the back room.” Lords of the back room. There's a phrase Germaine Greer would have liked.»

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