“Sarah Palin is a Cunt.”
That delightful comment graced the front of a top-selling t-shirt during the 2008 presidential elections — with more than a few being sported, in protest, by gatecrashers to Palin-fundraisers all across the country.
It was the first clue that something ugly was emerging from a spectrum normally at the receiving end of sexism, misogyny and abuse: Feminists and liberals.
Perhaps we should have seen it coming. After all, feminists — and liberals in general — were unimpressed when the governor of Alaska was given the opportunity to share the presidential ticket with Republican nominee John McCain. It was hardly surprising that none of them were shy in expressing their displeasure.
The way these critics spoke about Palin revealed a rather ugly hypocrisy. Palin’s fiercest detractors — amongst them self-proclaimed feminists — seemed to have a propensity for using the same type of sexist, derogatory and misogynist language about which they complained frequently being on the receiving.
The “Sarah Palin is a Cunt” t-shirt was just the tip of the iceberg.
She was an “idiotic cunt” according to Jezebel. Progressive radio presenter Stephanie Miller dismissed her as a “bimbo.” The Stranger labeled her a “trollop.” Salon coined the phrase “Yukon Barbie” while the Huffington Post announced that she was a “trophy VP.”
And these were the official word from so-called feminist talk spaces. The comments sections of such articles were a lot less tactful. If Jezebel had earned a quarter each time a supposedly enlightened commenter used the word “cunt” to describe Palin, they’d have become the leading publication in America.
And all this misogynistic outpouring didn’t end when Palin’s push to the White House did. It seems Palin’s arrival opened a Pandora’s Box; and a lot of sexist bullshit poured out from within.
Next on the hit list came Delaware conservative Christine O’Donnell, who was described in a post on Queerty as “a stupid little cunt.” Other blogs and websites from so-called progressives and feminists similarly singled out Michelle Bachman as a “useless fucking cunt” and “evil cunt” (if you’re detecting a theme here, it’s because I searched feminist and liberal websites for the keyword “cunt” – and found incalculable outpourings to quote from.)
It seems that many of the things feminists argue should never be used to dismiss or derail a female figure — such as their looks or sexuality — suddenly became “fair game” when the target came from the opposite end of the political spectrum.
It became so ridiculous that one supposedly sex-positive website, while criticizing a video of Christine O’Donnell spouting off nonsense about HIV and AIDs, attacked not her words, but her out-of-date hairstyle.
Similarly, liberal gossip site Gawker ran an exposé in which they revealed how a drunken O’Donnell had hooked up with a younger man in Philadelphia; in an example of ‘slut shaming’ that was “acceptable” because O’Donnell was the target, not one of the “good guys.”
What was really interesting about the phenomenon, however, was how it was mirrored by the mainstream media, too. MSNBC’s Ed Schultz accused conservative TV show host Laura Ingraham of being a “right wing slut.” Pat Buchanan, from the same network, dismissed Sarah Palin as just “a gal.”
Don’t even get me started on Bill Maher — who I’ve already called out as a sexist pig — with his diatribes on how Sarah Palin was a “dumb twat” or how she’d sleep with GOP candidate Rick Perry “if he was black” were disgusting. It was revolting to see him leveraging rumors that Palin had a one-night stand with an African American basketball player in her youth — slut shaming in the most obvious way possible.
I ended up asking myself whether the sexist, misogynistic ranting on the Internet was what had given the left-wing media the impression that is was “okay” to talk about female candidates this way — or whether it was the other way around. Did the liberal media stoke the fire and the pundits on the ‘net just run with it?
Either way, it’s not cool.
Not because the right wing don’t talk about feminist and liberal icons in much the same way (talk radio host Mark Levin calls Hillary Clinton “her thighness”, for example) but at least we’ve never come to expect anything better from them.
But feminists and liberals are supposed to be above sinking to that level. Entire blogs are dedicated to calling out mainstream culture for perceived sexism, misogyny and sex-negativity. That makes it unacceptable when those same blogs use those same terms to attack their enemies.
Making this hypocrisy worse, the right wing has actually started challenging their reputation for sexism and racism in recent months.
Whichever way you slice it, you can’t argue that the past few years have seen some strong, minority candidates emerge in a way that isn’t mirrored amongst the Democrats – and it’s difficult to accuse the Republican Party and their Tea Party activists of inherent racism when they just voted, overwhelmingly, to support an African American candidate for the presidency in Florida.
It’s a dangerous situation for modern-feminists and the left-wing liberals to suddenly find themselves in; because for the first time they risk losing the one thing they’ve always held over the right-wing and the conservatives they oppose; the higher moral ground.
Using terminology that they’ve attacked as sexist, misogynistic or just plain low in the past undermines everything they stand for – and, more importantly, stand against.
That delightful comment graced the front of a top-selling t-shirt during the 2008 presidential elections — with more than a few being sported, in protest, by gatecrashers to Palin-fundraisers all across the country.
It was the first clue that something ugly was emerging from a spectrum normally at the receiving end of sexism, misogyny and abuse: Feminists and liberals.
Perhaps we should have seen it coming. After all, feminists — and liberals in general — were unimpressed when the governor of Alaska was given the opportunity to share the presidential ticket with Republican nominee John McCain. It was hardly surprising that none of them were shy in expressing their displeasure.
The way these critics spoke about Palin revealed a rather ugly hypocrisy. Palin’s fiercest detractors — amongst them self-proclaimed feminists — seemed to have a propensity for using the same type of sexist, derogatory and misogynist language about which they complained frequently being on the receiving.
The “Sarah Palin is a Cunt” t-shirt was just the tip of the iceberg.
She was an “idiotic cunt” according to Jezebel. Progressive radio presenter Stephanie Miller dismissed her as a “bimbo.” The Stranger labeled her a “trollop.” Salon coined the phrase “Yukon Barbie” while the Huffington Post announced that she was a “trophy VP.”
And these were the official word from so-called feminist talk spaces. The comments sections of such articles were a lot less tactful. If Jezebel had earned a quarter each time a supposedly enlightened commenter used the word “cunt” to describe Palin, they’d have become the leading publication in America.
And all this misogynistic outpouring didn’t end when Palin’s push to the White House did. It seems Palin’s arrival opened a Pandora’s Box; and a lot of sexist bullshit poured out from within.
Next on the hit list came Delaware conservative Christine O’Donnell, who was described in a post on Queerty as “a stupid little cunt.” Other blogs and websites from so-called progressives and feminists similarly singled out Michelle Bachman as a “useless fucking cunt” and “evil cunt” (if you’re detecting a theme here, it’s because I searched feminist and liberal websites for the keyword “cunt” – and found incalculable outpourings to quote from.)
It seems that many of the things feminists argue should never be used to dismiss or derail a female figure — such as their looks or sexuality — suddenly became “fair game” when the target came from the opposite end of the political spectrum.
It became so ridiculous that one supposedly sex-positive website, while criticizing a video of Christine O’Donnell spouting off nonsense about HIV and AIDs, attacked not her words, but her out-of-date hairstyle.
Similarly, liberal gossip site Gawker ran an exposé in which they revealed how a drunken O’Donnell had hooked up with a younger man in Philadelphia; in an example of ‘slut shaming’ that was “acceptable” because O’Donnell was the target, not one of the “good guys.”
What was really interesting about the phenomenon, however, was how it was mirrored by the mainstream media, too. MSNBC’s Ed Schultz accused conservative TV show host Laura Ingraham of being a “right wing slut.” Pat Buchanan, from the same network, dismissed Sarah Palin as just “a gal.”
Don’t even get me started on Bill Maher — who I’ve already called out as a sexist pig — with his diatribes on how Sarah Palin was a “dumb twat” or how she’d sleep with GOP candidate Rick Perry “if he was black” were disgusting. It was revolting to see him leveraging rumors that Palin had a one-night stand with an African American basketball player in her youth — slut shaming in the most obvious way possible.
I ended up asking myself whether the sexist, misogynistic ranting on the Internet was what had given the left-wing media the impression that is was “okay” to talk about female candidates this way — or whether it was the other way around. Did the liberal media stoke the fire and the pundits on the ‘net just run with it?
Either way, it’s not cool.
Not because the right wing don’t talk about feminist and liberal icons in much the same way (talk radio host Mark Levin calls Hillary Clinton “her thighness”, for example) but at least we’ve never come to expect anything better from them.
But feminists and liberals are supposed to be above sinking to that level. Entire blogs are dedicated to calling out mainstream culture for perceived sexism, misogyny and sex-negativity. That makes it unacceptable when those same blogs use those same terms to attack their enemies.
Making this hypocrisy worse, the right wing has actually started challenging their reputation for sexism and racism in recent months.
Whichever way you slice it, you can’t argue that the past few years have seen some strong, minority candidates emerge in a way that isn’t mirrored amongst the Democrats – and it’s difficult to accuse the Republican Party and their Tea Party activists of inherent racism when they just voted, overwhelmingly, to support an African American candidate for the presidency in Florida.
It’s a dangerous situation for modern-feminists and the left-wing liberals to suddenly find themselves in; because for the first time they risk losing the one thing they’ve always held over the right-wing and the conservatives they oppose; the higher moral ground.
Using terminology that they’ve attacked as sexist, misogynistic or just plain low in the past undermines everything they stand for – and, more importantly, stand against.
Here, here. Have I told you lately that I love you?
Seems that if they can't beat them, they have to join them because the don't have anything else to say.
I'm never surprised when I see this phenomenon. The oppressed become oppressors in most cases. They either cry racism or behave in a manner that is very similar to those who once oppressed them. Its quite sad and through my trend forecasting takes at least 2 generations to dwindle out of vogue.
Ummm...I don't think I've ever seen feminists do that. I've seen feminists defending Sarah Palin against sexist attacks even though they don't agree with her...
Camellia Girl - feel free to Google any of the websites I've listed for the word "cunt" and you'll see the examples I'm talking about. There are more of them than I'd have the capacity to list.