Saturday, October 9, 2010

Misogyny on the Left

One day after Jerry Brown called Meg Whitman a “whore,” he received the endorsement of the California branch of the National Organization for Women.

Let‘s allow this teachable moment to free us from the idea that NOW is a pro-women organization. When faced with a choice between someone who traffics in misogynist rhetoric and one of the most accomplished professional women in the country, if not in the world, California NOW comes down on the side of ideology.

Nothing about it is surprising. For some time I have been arguing, and I am hardly the first, that many so-called champions of women’s rights have exploited women to advance their own leftist ideology.

From NOW’s perspective, Meg Whitman is not just a very successful businesswoman; she is a Republican. Ergo, it doesn’t matter if Jerry Brown called her a “whore.”

Of course, it bespeaks a vicious strain of unacknowledged misogyny.

It should not have surprised anyone that Sarah Palin, to take the Number 1 Mama Grizzly, was attacked, and is still attacked, in language that reeks of misogyny. See my posts tagged “Sarah Palin.”

Obviously, this problem is not going to be solved because I spoke out. The fact that a Kirsten Powers recognized and identified the problem will likely have a more salutary effect.

Thus, I am happy to link her most recent column in The Daily Beast. Link here. Powers demonstrates that leftists have absolutely no compunctions about attacking Republican women in the most misogynist terms.

To the point where you start thinking that these leftists are really conducting a modern day witch hunt. Perhaps they believe that their credentials as card carrying feminists absolve them of the taint of misogyny. If so, they need to think again. Or better, they should just plain start to think.

9 comments:

David Foster said...

The attacks on Michelle Malkin have been particularly vile, encompassing both her gender and her ethnic background: many of them have been straight-out obscene.

Stuart Schneiderman said...

It's amazing that so few of the thought police have found anything wrong with any of it.

Chuck Pelto said...

TO: Dr. Schneiderman, et al.
RE: As the Saying Goes....

It's amazing that so few of the thought police have found anything wrong with any of it. -- Stuart Schneiderman

....Where there is no religion, hypocrisy becomes good taste.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
[Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue.]

The Ghost said...

amazingly as well Whitman is pro choice ...

Stuart Schneiderman said...

Some people are never pleased. They represent true zealots and fanatics.

Anonymous said...

Brown didn't call Whitman a whore, one of his campaign workers did. At least get the facts straight.

Stuart Schneiderman said...

True enough, it appears that Brown did not use the word. So, I regret distorting the fact. Brown is reported to have responded to the remark by saying that he could use that. Which does not exactly make him look like a great guy.

The last report I heard, for whose factual accuracy I cannot entirely vouch, was that it was Brown's wife who called Whitman a "whore."

Hope that that clears things up.

Anonymous said...

I interviewed Brown in 1992 for my college newspaper when he was running for President. He's a pretty prickly guy, not real friendly.

Stuart Schneiderman said...

Thank you for offering your observations of Jerry Brown. It's helpful to have the viewpoint of someone who sat down and talked with him.

I don't think he comes across in the media as friendly, congenial, cordial, or even nice.

Not the kind of guy you would want to sit down and have a couple of beers with.