Sarah Palin is something of an enigma. She perfectly personifies the prudish hypocrisy of right-wing America, surrounding herself with a fug of ignorance and quasi-religious rhetoric. She preaches a nonsensical code of morality to the masses, condoning greed and intolerance and condemning diversity. Aligned with her local Pentecostal church, she gained success as Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, with promises to ban abortion, fight gay rights and cut funding for kits to test rape victims. Deaf to overwhelming evidence to the contrary – including the unplanned pregnancy of her own teenage daughter – she maintained that a vow of abstinence remained a better option than proper education for sexual newbies.
Yet despite being the antithesis of sexual expression, Palin herself has become a sex symbol. In November 2008, Hustler released the porn-a-like movie “Who’s Nailin’ Paylin”, and this was quickly followed by a number of other similar works and rumours that flooded the internet and popular culture. Through the heady combination of her beauty-queen appearance and aggressive opposition to female sexuality, her own (real and perceived) sex life has become a fascination for millions.
This week, a Chicago strip club hosted a Sarah Palin lookalike competition for exotic dancers. The winner was Brazilian model Eloah Rocha, who was awarded $2,500 for performing as “Corporate Dominatrix Palin” at the Admiral Theatre’s event.
Meanwhile, that same night, more than four thousand supporters flocked to Rosemont, Illinois and paid extortionate ticket prices to see Palin make a brief appearance at a Republican fundraiser. For the hour that she stayed, she made no speech but posed for photographs. Depressingly, this simple spectacle earned her Party over $100,000.
See more photos of stripping Palin-a-likes at the Admiral Theatre, courtesy of the Chicago Tribune, here.

