Wise words on Palin and sexism

From a commenter at the Atlantic:

When it comes to Palin, there’s an intersection of sexism and age that the Republicans don’t understand (which is why they keep crying sexism and wonder why it’s not working).

For many Boomer women, the primary sexist experience of their lives is: “Those men gave the job to that guy instead of me, even though I am more qualified and/or have more seniority.”

For many Gen X women like myself (and Palin is Gen X) the primary sexist experience is: “Those men gave the job to that clueless chick instead of me, because the boss thinks she’s hot and/or will be a yes-man with no ideas of her own.”

If, for some Boomer women, Obama’s win over Hillary represents the guy they lost the promotion to, Palin’s selection plays the same role for Gen X women. We’ve seen it: first the incompetent yet babelicious woman is promoted over her head, then the boss orders the attention of the entire team/department/etc. to focus on ensuring that “we” shield her from “mistakes” (or worse, we get blamed for her mistakes). Palin reminds us of when we got screwed by this sort of bullshit. And it shows in voters’ response to her.

As a Gen Y-er, I identify much more strongly with the Gen X experience described here than with the Boomer one. Companies are so desperate to promote women that I can’t fathom being passed over for a less-qualified man. But given that men are still making most of these promotion and hiring decisions, I can easily believe that the qualities they value in a woman might not be the ones best for business. As I wrote on my favorite sports message board (not proud of it!) after the pick was made:

Am I really to believe that her looks weren’t a big part of this decision? I don’t, and to me that’s a pretty sad statement about what qualities America values in female leaders. Granted, such values aren’t McCain’s fault, but his cynical exploitation of them doesn’t exactly give me warm fuzzies, either.