The subtitle of this blog is “in defense of the sanctimonious women’s studies set.” Some folks will recall where that title came from: when the best-known Democratic blogger in America loudly dismissed feminism as some special interest interfering with Team Blue’s entitlement to win elections. And that’s not an isolated problem. As the inimitable Melissa McEwan pointed out at Shakesville recently, and even more recently because some people needed clarification, there are a lot of fauxgressive guys in the blogosphere who belittle and snicker at women and marginalize issues that “only” concern women (roughly half the population).
(The primary season has been evidence, if more was needed, of that. See Zuzu’s posts here and here. And I say that as someone who never intended to, and did not, vote for Clinton.)
So it’s good that some of the “big” political bloggers say some of the right things. I won’t attempt an exhaustive list, but I’ve been particularly impressed with Atrios, of Eschaton, who is Duncan Black. I read him for the econ – he has that PhD and all – but it always raises my spirits to see him say explicitly feminist things.
For example, when Judge Deni in Philadelphia called the armed rape of a sex worker theft of services, Zuzu covered it. Atrios picked it up right away, and gave the judge the “Wanker of the Day” headline.
And then, when the now-famous Charlotte Allen self-hating misogyny appeared in the Washington Post, Atrios personally called out the editor, John Pomfret, naming Pomfret the “Wanker of the Day” and quoting some of Allen’s other disgraceful remarks to highlight Pomfret’s insipid excuse that Allen’s work was satire.
Then, he answered the question, “Why Don’t Women Read the Post?” He said, “Today I could read opinion pieces from David Broder, Robert Novak, David Ignatius, Robert Joseph and J.D. Crouch II, and Tim Westrich. It’s truly a mystery.”
And most recently, this.
Now, that stuff is good, but he recently said something which required actual insight, and one not common among het guys:
“I’m reminded of my college days, when rape awareness education for women was all the rage. It started off in a sensible place, but it also gave women a list of “risky behaviors” which made them feel responsible for their own rape if they actually did crazy things like walk out alone at night.”
I’m not claiming perfection for him, of course, and I’m sure he’s said some things that would make us shake our heads or even our fists in the past. But that last part has the sound, to my ears, of someone who listens to the women in his life when they tell him what it’s like.