Others disagreed with Chris' assessment. I would hope that this disagreement would give him pause now. Not just from me. After all, I am just an a-hole. No need to listen to me.
But how about Susie Madrak - "It's disgusting and repellant. It's a real sustained problem that's out of control. I think there are a lot of Democratic women that are very very angry with the Netroots right now."
How about Digby - "When people assumed I was a man they reacted to me in a certain way. the minute it became known I was a middle aged woman, -- Oh God the worst of possibilities! -- people reacted to it differently. I'm not an idiot. I can tell."
How about Melissa McEwan? Boehlert describes her reaction:
McEwan became increasingly unnerved by what she saw of the sexist coverage of Clinton, and how the progressive blogosphere, having embraced Obama, let so much of it pass without comment. . . . Worse was the fact that over time, she couldn't shake the feeling that portions of the netroots were actually pushing the sexist stuff.
How about Jane Hamsher's rationalization for this behavior? "I think there might be a lack of sensitivity to sexist coverage. . . . I think that if you are a man you just do not see it that fast." What does it mean if you do not see it at all Jane?
The most ironic reaction Boehlert recounts comes from Booman (with whom I was quite friendly at one time), who, according to Boehlert, admitted that
[H]e was so "pissed off" [at Clinton] . . . that he lowered his outrage threshold in terms of defending Clinton against sexist broadsides."
How do you lower your threshold below zero, Booman?
What makes Booman's confession ironic is how he first built up his site - by taking advantage of the original "pie fight" - the battle over Daily Kos' (I was a front page poster at Daily Kos at the time) running of an ad for a new Gilligan's Island television program that featured a pie fight between the new Ginger and Maryanne. When Markos made the blatantly sexist remark about the "sanctimonious women's studies set" (a remark roundly and rightly blasted by many, including Daily Kos front pagers like myself and Meteor Blades. Markos later apologized for the remark), Booman made a big show of trashing Markos for it and offering his site as a welcoming haven for feminists. Booman had his own history of rather sexist comments so his newly found awareness of the importance of fighting sexism was quite, um, convenient.
Of all the episodes of the 2008 primary wars, to my mind, the pervavsive acceptance, even encouragement, of sexism and misogyny remains the most shameful and the one that must be remembered. Progressives abandoned one of the most basic tents of progressivism - all due to their love of one politician and their loathing of another politician. It should never have happened. And it is a wound that has not been addressed forthrightly.
Boehlert's book provides us another chance to heal this wound. Perhaps it will be addressed now. Not likely I know. But we are all for hope and change now no?
Speaking for me only
