Or babes OUT of Kosland, more like it - via Feministe, there's been a veritable split within the blogosphere's biggest Dem community provoked by a typically boneheaded (and typically MALE) move by the too-impolitic- to -actually-succeed-at-politics Mr. Zuniga. After getting a boatload of complaints about some crypto-pornographic sidebar ad or other, he expertly 'defuses' the controversy:
So over the weekend, certain segments of the community have erupted in anger over the TBS ad for their reality show, the Real Gilligan’s Island. Apparently, having two women throw pies at each other, wrestle each other in a sexy, lesbianic manner, then having water splashed on their ample, fake bosoms is degrading to women. Or something like that.
Whatever. Feel free to be offended. I find such humorless, knee-jerk reactions, to be tedious at best, sanctimonious and arrogant at worst. I don’t care for such sanctimony from Joe Lieberman, I don’t care for it from anyone else. Some people find such content offensive. Some people find it arousing. Some people find it funny. To each his or her own.
But I am not Lieberman. I won’t sit there and judge pop culture and act as gatekeeper to what I think is “appropriate”, and what isn’t.
And I certainly won’t let the sanctimonious women’s studies set play that role on this site. Feel free to be offended...
YEOW! You can imagine the response to that, even if Kos somehow couldn't. Feministe Lauren says it well enough:
Is the ad in and of itself offensive? Not necessarily. What is offensive is Kos’ dismissal of feminist complaint, concern and criticism regarding a pretty sexist ad designed for het male titillation run on the most widely-known progressive blog for his own personal profit.
Objectifying and demeaning any minority group for the sake of profit, be it corporate or personal, is abhorrent. This is exactly why I resist the Democratic party and most of its advocates. Women and women’s opinions don’t matter if they run contrary to the bottom line.
So now sisters are doing it for themselves, and have started up a separate blog to serve as a kind of women's caucus for the Kos community - Women Kossacks:
Let's talk about these issues in our own space, for the time being. What the hell. Any diaries about it are just going to fall off the main page on dKos anyway!
I am learning more and more about my Democratic Party every day. I am learning why there are such things as women's caucuses and black caucuses. I am learning why certain groups of people who belong to a party feel the need to occasionally shut themselves in a conference room and talk amongst themselves.
Women's caucuses in the Democratic Party did not happen because a bunch of women got together and said, "Hey, let's have a social club" or "Hey, we're all women, let's get together as a group and join the Democratic Party." The women were already in the party and then one day realized the people running the party weren't quite prepared to listen to their views, so they decided to get together to confer.
Check out the comments on this post for some stinging critiques of the "frat-boy" mentality of the Kos site and the male dominated blogosphere in general, "endless macho rah-rah megaphone posts," and the general hypocrisy of political organizers that give lip service to their interest groups' interest while taking them for granted and, at times, openly disrespecting their concerns.
Take notes, fellas, I know I am. The Democrats need to develop a coherent, progressive, and (ideally) winning party platform that is more than just the sum of its interest groups - but the way to go about building consensus is not by ignoring/dismissing minority views. More sophisticated understandings of diversity, democratic dialogue, and political networking are required, not macho chest-beating about how we are going to beat the Republicans SO HARD AND NEVER LET UP &c