Barbara said...
I was only a lurker on dK. And while I thought the ad itself was only marginally offensive, I found the response to the objections to be intolerable.
I'm 50 years old, and frankly, it was intolerable because it was so danmned predictable. I've seen it a score of times before.
The script is so worn out that I saw it coming before the so-called apology went up.
*sexist thing happens*
Progressive Woman: Hey, that thing there, that was kind of sexist.
Progressive Man #1: You're over-reacting!
Progressive Man #2: You're a prude!
Progressive Woman #2: No, you're missing the point. *That thing* is sexist because *insert reason here*
Progressive Man #3: *insert several slang references to female body parts*
PW#3: That kind of behavior is sexist and unhelpful
PM#4: You girls can't take a joke!
PM#2: Grow a thicker skin! This is politics!
PM#1: We have more important things to talk about. You're just being hysterical. And it's just women's issues anyway and no one cares abut those but those icky feminists!
I mean, really. It just gets old.
There are plenty of smart and truly progressive men out there. I married one. There are also, I'm sorry to say, plenty of men out there who are progressive only up to the point it doesn't interfere with their male 'rights', who shrug off womens' issues with ease.
I don't get it. Do they not know any women, love any women, parent any girls? Would they talk like that to their wives and mothers and sisters and daughters?
John Adams did not 'remember the ladies' despite Abigail's reminders. The anti-slavery movement told women that they would get back to them after the battle was won. The civil rights leaders told women there were bigger battles that had to be fought first. The anti-war people tell us that there's no time to talk about anything but ending the war.
Okay. We've been good. We've waited, if not quietly, for generations of progressive men to get around to caring about womens' issues. And the promises are just plain wearing thin on me.
If you want my vote and my work and my signature on petitions and my tired old body out there holding signs, progressives, then toss this old feminist broad a bone. Stop treating reproductive rights as a side issue to be thrown overboard if the polls shift. Stop tolerating sexist speech in your discourse. Show me some, dare I say it, progress.
