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

Title Tea party women : mama grizzlies, grassroots leaders, and the changing face of the American right / Melissa Deckman
Published New York : New York University Press, [2016]
©2016

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Description 1 online resource
Contents Introduction: Mama Grizzlies Rising Up -- Top Conservatives and Grassroots Leaders: The Women behind the Tea Party -- A New Civic Motherhood? The Evolution of Conservative Women's Political Rhetoric -- The Sexist Safety Net: Free Enterprise as Feminist Principle -- Freedom Feminism: Individualism, Conservatism, and Gender Roles -- Guns are the Great Equalizer: Mama Grizzlies and the Right to Bear Arms -- Conclusion: Tea Party Women and the Future of American Politics
Summary Notable for its radical conservative views, the Tea Party is progressive in one way that much of mainstream US politics is not: it has among its most vocal members not spokesmen but spokeswomen. Michelle Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Governor Nikki Haley, US Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, and many others are all prominent figureheads for the fiery and prominent political movement. Many major Tea Party organizations, such as the Tea Party Patriots, are led by women and women have been instrumental in founding new right wing organizations for women, such as Smart Girl Politics, with ties to the movement. In Tea Party Women, 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 Tea Party women find the grassroots, decentralized nature of the movement 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 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
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes English
Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed March 30, 2016)
Subject Tea Party movement.
Women -- Political activity -- United States
Right and left (Political science) -- United States
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Essays.
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Government -- General.
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Government -- National.
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Reference.
Politics and government
Right and left (Political science)
Tea Party movement
Women -- Political activity
SUBJECT United States -- Politics and government. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140410
Subject United States
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781479833870
1479833878