For some time after I wrote this, I got emails. I do not want to quote any of them directly here, as I have not obtained permission from their authors to do so; besides, they could all be fairly paraphrased as below:
Thank you for writing that. I have been weblogging since [date]. I take the time to make sure what I have to say is clear, concise, sourced, and researched. I don't mean to sound boastful, but I think I can honestly say that the work I do is as good or better than that of some of the male bloggers out there.No, I would think, it's not just you.It really makes me mad when some guy like [male blogger] says either that there aren't any women bloggers, or that the women bloggers out there aren't any good. There are many of us who are highly readable, but these guys will not give us links. They're too busy reading each other even to notice we're here.
Anyway, just wanted to say 'thanks.' I'm glad it's not just me who has noticed what sexist jerks they are.
But for some reason, it is "just me" who will say it in public.
Some of you aren't going to like this; but then, I think some of you need to toughen up and face a few unpleasant facts. Starting with this one:
You know what I like best about Ms. Lauren and Jill?
They don't send me emails.
Lauren and Jill don't send me emails because they don't have to send me emails. On their side of the aisle, something very basic, very simple, and very just is widely understood to be inarguable:
Sexism is wrong.
Period.
This is the part where some eager beaver clicks the "Comments" link in a frenzy to tell me that a commenter at feministe called Michelle Malkin that word! BECAUSE OF THE HYPOCRISY!
You know what the difference between that guy and Jeff is?
That guy acknowledged it was wrong. Publicly.
Whereas Jeff never will.
Jeff will never apologize because that's not what real men do.
What real men do is call women bimbos in a purely ironic sense in order to highlight the hypocrisy.
Let's try that ourselves:
Adam Sandler comments on remarks by Protein Wisdom's "Jeff" arguing that, because someone at feministe called Michelle Malkin a cunt (which had nothing to do with the post's author, who had not done so herself) on a supposedly feminist weblog, his calling the author a "bimbo" is not worthy of response by angry, humorless feminists:
"Gee! And I thought I was an unfunny Jew."
Yep. I can hear the laughter all the way from here.
Sexism is wrong. Anti-semitism is wrong. Racism is wrong. That's why it's such a good thing none of them exist anymore.
The real problem in America today is identity politics.
I agree with most of Jeff's arguments about identity politics, actually. It's partly what got me arguing with Amanda Marcotte (and later Lauren--yes that Lauren) here and here. Somehow I managed to get through it without calling anyone a bimbo or a cunt. Didn't even need a thesaurus.
I think that might be because I stuck to attacking the arguments. Which is just what Jeff advocated with regard to Cindy Sheehan:
The left’s attempt to turn Sheehan into a martyr should not—NOT—be met with anything less than a barrage of accurate counterfactuals, including the constant publication and dissemination of her writings, speeches, etc., as well as a dispassionate and straightforward analysis of her attendants, handlers, and the rhetorical strategies they have adopted to push her narrative.So it's jarring to read the same man reject "a barrage of counterfactuals" in favor of a recurring joke that was never that funny to begin with.
I suppose one argument against breaking out the "counterfactuals" against Jill might run like this:
"Look, if she honestly doesn't understand why the events of September 11 were acts of war, not acts of terrorism, then obviously the two sides aren't even speaking the same language anymore, and there's just no point even debating the issue."
That's why people maintain political weblogs, that's why they all read each other's weblogs, and that's why they link to posts they find there: So they can not even debate stuff.
Glad that's been cleared up.
I am not going to get any emails on this post, unless I get one kicking me out of the Cotillion. I don't think that I will, but I could be wrong. Beth is pretty tolerant, pretty laissez-faire. You have to be, to keep a group of that many women from killing each other. Anyway, she knew I was a man-hating freak with an axe to grind when she signed me up.
I am not going to get any emails on this post because what I have learned is this:
Sexism continues to be a problem, in the minds of some women, only when sexism happens to them. Until then, no es problema.
When it is a problem? That's when I get emails.
Well, pardon the language but fuck that shit. Where's my cape? Where's my boots? Where's my mask? Where's my superpower? Who told you to call me?
You know what you can do the next time a man on the internet disregards what you said in favor of attacking you for who you are?
You can go back through your archives, read every word you ever wrote about how feminism has ruined America, and choke on each and every one.
And before any of you shake any fingers of outrage at me and ask how I can defend those lefty bitches! When they called Michelle Malkin that word!, you can recall that when I say sexism is wrong, I say it no matter which direction it's coming from.
Which is a polite way of saying I've been a lot more logically consistent than some of you have been.
You might be asking yourself something like this:
"I don't get it. Why're you dragging conservative women into this? What did they do in any of this? They didn't do anything!"
Thank you for making my point.
Sexism is wrong. I've run out of clever ways to say it. Luckily I don't need to find new ones. Jeff's searched his heart; his conscience is clear that he wasn't demeaning women with his post.
We should conduct criminal investigations this way. We'll just ask the accused if he's searched his heart and whether his conscience is clear. The best part?
No more jury duty!
This was really just a long preamble to saying that I'm quitting this blog.
I'm getting a sex change. Not in real life, but in internet life. I intend to come back as a man.
I'm not worried about whether I can pull it off. I'm pretty sure I can. Perhaps it won't work and I'll wind up unmasked, exposed--a Libertarian Girl in reverse (but, dear God, I do hope with better writing, and definitely with better ideas).
I don't care. It will be nice to have a some time, however much time that works out being, to see what it's like to just not deal with the bullshit. To see what it's like when the worst you're ever called is a "fucking idiot" instead of a "fat disgruntled chick" or a "self-loathing skank." To see what it's like when someone says "great post" instead of "can I be your stalker?" To see what it's like when someone visits to see what you wrote, not to see whether you've put up a picture on the "About" page yet.
It will be so nice to just not deal with the laugh-out-loud hilarity of bimbo jokes. As a man, I'll be able to ignore all that. Even if I don't ignore all that, my objections will be far more likely to be met with "I disagree, but I respect your opinion" than "I can pretty much guarantee these ladies / girls / women / wymyn / people don’t want to goad me into a debate on feminism and identity politics."
No more bullshit. No more crying and complaining from women who whip out that word with a quickness at each other, but then can't figure out why suddenly some guy's treating them like a 10-cent whore.
"All . . . all I did was p-p-post a p-p-picture! Why's everyone leering? Why won't they read what I wrote? Oh, this never happens to Instapundit! Oh, why? Why is that jerk so . . . so hateful?"
Because he watched you, dumbass. YOU. He watched that pronoun beginning with "y," ending in "u," and containing one "o" in the middle. He watched you do it, so he figured he could.
"She won't mind. She's no . . . feminist."
You all have fun not being feminists. I'm off to get me a virtual dick.
I intend to swing that fucker like you wouldn't believe.
ELSEWHERE: Hubris.
ALSO: Cassandra, Meryl, Judith, Sadie, and Jeff "How Can I Work My Injured Psyche Into This News Story?" Goldstein. Cassandra may be amused to learn that her post title gets truncated to "time_for_an_ass" on the ol' Sitemeter (and then again she may not, 'cause we're all humorless harpies in these parts). Meryl left third-degree burns on . . . somebody. Judith is probably the closest you'll get to "fair and balanced" in this whole (as she puts it) kerfluffle (I love that word. It's fun to say. Try it!). And Sadie said way too many nice things about me. I am embarrassed.
As for Jeff, perhaps some bad poetry will cheer him:
Western Civ slides headlong into dhimmitude
Down its slippery slopes, we bump and we groove
Singing those Allah-in-the-ice-cream-cone blues
As we slide down the hillside to dhimmitude
It begins with a simple request for respect
(That we keep getting told we just haven't earned yet)
"Quit bitching and moaning! You're getting upset!
You hysterical womyn! All ugly, I'll bet!
"Besides, after all, who started it first?
'Bimbo' or 'cunt'--now which one is worse?
"Identity politics will ruin this land
Suck it dry of all freedoms--I must make my stand
'Gainst bitches and bimbos who'd scatter like sand
All that I hold dear, all that makes me--a MAN."
So know this, amigas, if you dare to complain
There's a very good chance you'll drive some guy insane
To the point that jihadists and you, he will claim
Are so few steps removed that they're almost the same.
Down, down the hillside to dhimmitude
And it's your fault for saying folks shouldn't be rude
Here is your burqa, your prayer mat. Don't brood!--
It's just what you asked for, you man-hating prude.
Have a great week, everybody.
Posted by Ilyka at September 15, 2005 05:12 AM in hell is other people | TrackBack