Legal Commentary

Required Reading

By Big Tent Democrat

For those who do not wonder why sexism and misogyny are not an outright breach of community and societal norms. For those to whom the sexism in this campaign was irrelevant. For everyone.

Katha Pollit:

Clinton's run has put to rest the myth that we are living in a postfeminist wonderland in which all that stands in women's path is women themselves. Like a magnet--was it the pantsuit?--Clinton drew out the nation's misogyny in all its jeering glory and put it where we could all get a good look at it. . . . Vats of sexist nastiness splattered across the Comments section of hundreds of blogs and websites. . . . As for the . . . pundits, thank you, Hillary, for showing us the snickering belittling of women that passes for media commentary . . .

It’s a cultural moment that Andrew Stephen, writing with an outsider’s eye for the British magazine the New Statesman last month, characterized as a time of “gloating, unshackled sexism of the ugliest kind.” A moment in which things like the formation of a Hillary-bashing political action group, “Citizens United Not Timid,” a “South Park” episode featuring a nuclear weapon hidden in Clinton’s vagina, and Internet sales of a Hillary Clinton nutcracker with shark-like teeth between her legs, passed largely without mainstream media notice, largely, perhaps, because some of the key gatekeepers of mainstream opinion were so busy coming up with various iterations of the nutcracker theme themselves. (Tucker Carlson on Hillary: “When she comes on television, I involuntarily cross my legs.” For a good cry, watch this incredible montage from the Women’s Media Center.)

It is not irrelevant. It is not acceptable. It must be an "outright breach of community and societal norms."

It must be fought by anyone who calls themselves a progressive and a Democrat. Be they a politician, pundit, blogger or citizen. It is a big deal.

Speaking for me only.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on June 06, 2008 (boomark / email).