When I saw a picture of this button in today's Detroit Free Press, I was, well, riveted!

But I immediately realized I was falling behind the times. I'm late to the "Rosie" game, because I see that Sarah Palin's face on the iconic image has already drawn feminist criticism:

Today a colleague of mine showed me an article in the Washington Times from a rally in Lancaster, PA, where people held signs of the iconic Rosie the Riveter with Palin's face photoshopped in. In the background is a sign with PTA, spelling out Palin Takes America - even though Obama's policies are stronger on education than McCain's. In my hunt for the article online , I discovered a lot of people are using the Rosie the Riveter sign to show their support of McCain/Palin. There are t-shirts, posters, buttons, etc. I am astonished at how people who likely know & care zip about women's history or women's rights and could care less when Clinton or Pelosi are treated sexistly by the media or who don't think calling Palin "hot" and "sexy" is sexist, are repositioning a traditionally feminist icon like Rosie for themselves!! And I would be thrilled that they were embracing women's history if they were also embracing policies that benefited women which many famous women's history figures fought for!

Not to pick nits, but "sexistly" a word? (Yes.) If so, how about "racistly"? (Yes.) Christianistly? (No.) Fascistly? (Yes.) Communistly? (Yes.) Capitalistly. (Almost.) Feudalistly? (No.) Economistly? (Well, almost!)

Enough with the istlyisms, OK. (Typistly speaking, my fingers are tired of linking them.)

Concludes the author,

I think it's INSULTING for his supporters to be using Rosie like that.

The "Rosie" image traveled from coast to coast, being picked up by the New York Times, and the LA Times, it even generated a copyright debate, with one irate activist writing to the president of the Rosie the Riveter Trust (I had no idea there was such a thing), and demanding that something be done:

Today, September 10, 2008, a photo on the front page of the Los Angeles Times, revealed that the McCain campaign is using placards with a picture of Rosie the Riveter with the face of Gov Sarah Palin superimposed on the picture and using the same slogan "We Can Do It" as in the original picture.

I assume your organization has copy rights to Rosie the Riveter material, photos etc. Based on the fact that she was nominated for Vice President, one week ago today, it is unlikely the McCain campaign had authorization from your organization to use the picture? As you are aware, the Rosie the Riveter Trust is the official non-profit partner of the National Park Service for Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park. You are also affiliated with the City of Richmond, CA. In my opinion, I do not believe that it is appropriate and possibly an enfringement of copy rights for the McCain campaign to use your picture for partisan politics?

What a shame to use the historical contributions of women during WWII for political gain by the McCain campaign. Your prompt and timely response to this complaint is appreciated.

Lorenzo Mota

This graphic has been in the public domain for many years. Thousands of people have used it (or misused it) for every conceivable purpose. Rosie the Riveter Trust has no control whatsoever over its use.

The image most iconically associated with Rosie is J. Howard Miller's famous poster for Westinghouse, entitled We Can Do It!, which was modeled on Michigan factory worker Geraldine Doyle in 1942.[11][12]

However, the picture was not meant to represent a character called Rosie the Riveter at all.[2] Penny Colman writes that "Since the 1970s, this poster has been mistakenly labeled Rosie the Riveter and has been reprinted on posters, magazine covers, and many other items."

In 1942, the 17 year-old Geraldine spent a week working in a Michigan factory pressing metal as an early replacement worker for men who had gone off to war. During her brief tenure, a wire photographer took a picture of her she soon forgot. That image - re-imagined by J. Howard Miller while working for the Westinghouse War Production Co-Ordinating Committee - would soon become iconic both for the war effort and for the forever changed society it fostered.

Geraldine Doyle didn't know she was the model for Rosie until 1984, when she came across the 1942 photograph in Modern Maturity Magazine. By 1944, a lot of women were working in factories and plants, instead of homes. Rosie the Riveter appeared on a postage stamp, part of a World War II series produced by the U.S. Postal Service, in 1992.

According to Ellen Goodman, angry women have exploded in rage over the Palin Photoshop:

What finally sent her over the top was the poster. There was Sarah Palin as Rosie the Riveter, flexing her biceps under the motto: "We Can Do It!" The image was the same on the T-shirt my friend had left over from the primaries. But with a crucial difference.

"They've Photoshopped Sarah over Hillary. And women are falling for this!" she bellowed into my voice mail, closing with an epithet that would never have been permitted by her feminist spell check.

While the political junkie in me can comprehend that there would be feminist anger over who has "owns" the image in the moral sense, it's not accurate to say they've Photoshopped Sarah over Hillary. That's because Hillary was photoshopped over the artist's iconic depiction of someone else. There's this T-shirt, and other examples like this magnet, also shown here:

So, the contention by the man concerned with copyright infringement that "it is a shame to use the historical contributions of women during WWII for political gain by the McCain campaign" is a bit disingenuous.

Everybody has glommed onto "Rosie" for one reason or another. There's a sexist version of a woman holding a coffee pot, a "sock monkey" version, and while I'm not sure why, the Ron Paul campaign even got into the act -- although I do think "Ronnie the Riveter" is a bit of a stretch.

Most egregious of all, there's a racist version of the image here. I say "racist" because Barack Obama has been Photoshopped in, and because all criticism of Obama is racist, then all humorous Photoshopping must be too.

Frankly, I think they were going easy on Barack the Riveter.

Because all the women -- including Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi -- were depicted wearing the same headgear as the original worker, while Obama was not!

See? Here's Nancy!

Why no one is calling such a double standard "sexist," I don't know.

I guess I should be glad no one has suggested that ridiculing women's headgear is "tinged" with Islamophobia.