Letters to the Editor
-
I call bullshit II
Women who get the vapors when reading online should get offline already.
Men who can't find a better critique of the shitty writing on most of the Salon articles could start with something higher up the evolutionary scale than "cunt."
"Paglia, Dickerson and the writers of Broadstreet are provacateurs - purposely writing to incite and provoke." Salon does this on purpose, to generate clicks to generate ad revenues, so let's stop pretending this is all about civil debate. Some letters will be poorly-written, by anyone's standards.
Yes, even you, david sugarman. No letter has yet been written that LeCastor can't find fault with, based on her not-yet-completed legal studies and fabulous background. And there never will be a woman who measures up to the standards of Brightstar, Parson Jim, Tom Payne, or Ben Dover, for two reasons. They're all the same guy, and no woman because he's a pedophile. He needs a child to match his inner immaturity.
So I say let's let Joan Walsh rake in the bucks by publishing mostly shitty writers as we have this safe place to pretend to be tough, to pretend to be outraged, to pretend that anything that happens on Salon makes a bit of fucking difference in the real world.
Deal?
-
margalis rocks
:) thank you
-
Interesting article
I have noticed that Salon comments are filled with misogynistic undertones... one of the main reasons I stopped reading them (primarily in Cary Tennis' column). And I noticed that the trolls seem to be tipping the scales in their favor on this particular piece.
But what really made me stop reading all the commentary was the Oprah piece -- which was coincidentally written by a man. The vilification of Lady O just really hit a raw nerve.
I now pretty much expect that anything either a) written by a woman on a topic of interest to women, or b) an article about feminism or any perceived backlash against women -- will elicit the trolls. So I've gone back to doing what I did in the old fashioned past -- I just read the articles.
As usual, great stuff. Keep up the good work, Salon staffers.
-
Sorry, you can't have it both ways
Oh, please, give me a break!
When a woman complains is fair and she is defending her rights. Women complain all the time and this is called feminism.
When a man complains is "hysterical masculine self-pity posing as righteous indignation"
Where is it written that only women can play the role of victims?
The same woman says "Man up!". Quoting Urban Dictionary (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=man+up), "to man up" is :
"A reminder, usually to a man, to maintain or resume his assigned place within patriarchy. A reminder to a man never to show uncertainty, express feelings or emotion, display lack of skill, give any indication of empathy, give voice to pain or suffering, or otherwise act like a human being rather than an automaton."
Is this feminism? Is not feminism about ending patriarchy and gender roles?
Some women want to have it both ways. When feminism is good for them, they want to be feminist. When this is not true, they defend old-fashioned privileges.
If you can't stand the insults, please don't have a blog. You want to be an independent woman and, the day after, you are the weak and delicate maid that is unable to deal with profanities and "she won't be the same". That is, the fairy-tale princess who is a fragile flower.
(By the way, I have been called "fag, nazist, islamophobic, pig, I deserved to be killed and tortured" in cyberspace)
I know that you are going to call me mysoginist. In (some) feminist jargon, mysoginist is the individual who doesn't accept men have to be treated worse than women.
-
Easy Hate
I know guys, mostly the kind that can't get a date and sweat a lot when there are women around, who engage in the most vile excoriations of women in the media, in politics, or in peripheral roles to their lives.
I know that in reality most of them are gentle, anxious types, but also wouldn't envy the woman who happened to get mixed up in their psycho-sexual misperceptions of male/female roles and relations.
The web makes hating easy. I've never written a physical letter to a newspaper, but post to Salon with some regularity. I'm able to respond with my immediate feelings--thankfully, I'm not so full of hate.
For some, like these guys, immediate feelings aren't so great. Their inadequacy, their failures--both romantically and in the office--are tied together, creating a carapce of anger at women that has little to do with reality.
I've generally prohibited them from using this hate speech around me, but truthfully, when they make some hateful comment about women, sometimes, as a guy, I just don't hear it.
All I can say is that I'm sorry for my gender's pathetic need to be taller by standing on women.
-
the word misogyny should be banned until people learn to use it responsibly and restore its meaning.
On the internet people admit they can't stand the type of woman who drops the "m-bomb" in every discussion. Such women come off as axe-grinders. Nobody wants to help them in RL because they're always incredibly zealous and equally clueless.
I've heard overweight/obese women claim health/beauty standards for a lean body are "misogynistic." Women with hourglass figures are buying into "misogynistic" culture while small flat chested women, like Olympic gymnasts, are also victims of "misogynistic" culture.
I've heard women leaving work to raise children are buying into "misogynistic" values. Aggressive women who excel in the workplace are adopting "misogynistic" values.
Defending those who were apparently wrongly accused of rape, or pointing out that women make false accusations just as men do, is "misogynistic."
Every other pretentious, twenty something, female, spoken-word poet who wants to sound "heavy" talks real slow, st-res-sing ev-er-y syl-a-ble, and makes sure to M-carpet-bomb the room to let everyone know what a "powerful goddess" she really is.
Telling people to lay off the M-bomb? "Misogynistic!"
It's become pretty ridiculous. People are sick of PC phonies who are self-righteousness without real intellect or insight.
-
parallels in politics
I can't help thinking that these despicable attacks against women writers are paralleled in political life by the venom that is unleashed against women, especially women on the left, who are in positions of power. When women are ambitious and successful--a Nancy Pelosi or Hillary Clinton--they "earn" an automatic "bitch" badge. The bitch badge serves to justify the most vicious attacks--after all, she's a bitch, so she's fair game, right? Americans didn't invent this sport, though. Marie Antoinette was slandered, as were Josephine and many, many other women in history who proved themselves to be equal or superior in intellect to the men of their day.