Parker: What women's lib hath wrought

Kathleen Parker is a syndicated columnist for The Washington Post.

Women's liberation worked in ways we might never have imagined. The feminist woman who burned her bra and insisted that all hear her roar is today a taupe-ish figure who wonders where things went wrong. Her daughter may well be a Republican - a gun-toting, breast-feeding supermom who condemns government for being a "nanny" and tells men to man-up.

She's also likely considered a "hottie" by the men who stand by watching their women show those libs a thing or two about being a "Hard-Core Woman."

We needn't name the queen of this emerging bevy of can-dos, who wouldn't deign to call themselves feminists even though they certainly are. If "That One'' achieves nothing else in her life, she has popularized a new feminine image that drives men and women mad for different reasons.

Among other traditionally feminine tricks, the new hard-core woman shoots straight and plays hardball. At the same time, she has manhandled women's issues, neatly packaged them in ironic pink tissue, and placed them neatly on a floral paper-lined shelf.

She really can do it all, and there's nothing left to whine about. This is precisely why she's so annoying. Polly Perfect in a Pinafore has only changed outfits and carries a concealed weapon instead of a lace hankie, though she probably has one of those, too. Being both feminine and tough is the latest girly wile. And in recent days Washington has provided a glimpse of how these new roles are playing out.

In one scene, we see Michelle Obama and Michele Bachmann clashing coifs over none other than (drum roll) breast-feeding.

The first lady wants to encourage women to breast-feed their babies as a way of combating childhood obesity by, among other things, providing tax breaks for equipment needed to express milk while mom is away from baby. Bachmann, noting that she breast-fed all five of her children, mocked the idea as a manifestation of the nanny state.

Across town at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where riper Republicans court their children's friends for straw poll votes, 19-year-old Regis Giles made a splash with her call for women to arm themselves in self-defense.

Giles, whose father is Doug Giles, a conservative radio host/columnist/artist/hunter, is a Generation X, Y, Z version of "That One.'' Self-assured and attractive, she's unapologetic about her passion for slaying large animals. She has a website titled "Girls Just Wanna Have Guns'' and soon will star in a reality show called "Primal Urge."

Giles once used a spear to kill a wild boar that was in a tussle with one of her hunting dogs. She stabbed the beast through the heart, a clean kill resulting in one relieved canine.

It is one thing to kill a bison from a distance with a rifle. It is another to approach a wild boar and kill it with one's own hand and a stick. Not many can claim that level of courage and, by the way, she ate her kill. When I asked her what she was wearing, which I instinctively knew would be permissible, she didn't miss a beat: "Cargo pants and a very nice plaid T-shirt."

It is not a leap of hyperbole to observe that proving one's conservative bona fides these days requires a certain derring-do and some familiarity with weaponry. If you can't bring home the bacon, you might need to woman-up.

I asked Giles about that, too. She said she couldn't really comment. She is who she is, after all. Just a young woman making her way in a hard-core woman's world. Let the old guard fret over how best to suckle their young.