Comments on: I Never Thought I’d See the Day…

By: Harpy Seminar: WTF Sarah Palin? - The Pursuit of Harpyness

Harpy Seminar: WTF Sarah Palin? - The Pursuit of Harpyness — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:50:52 +0000

[...] the failure of abstinence-only education or whether feminists like us hate you because you’re just so pretty and married to–surprisingly–finding common cause with you when you called out David Letterman. You [...]

By: Obsolete? I Don’t Think So - The Pursuit of Harpyness

Obsolete? I Don’t Think So - The Pursuit of Harpyness — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:16:31 +0000

[...] I’m trying to follow that train of thought, but it just makes me dizzy. I seem to remember that a number of feminists did indeed protest vociferously about the Letterman “joke”, including SarahMC. [...]

By: Vultures - The Pursuit of Harpyness

Vultures - The Pursuit of Harpyness — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:02:08 +0000

[...] and misogyny needs to be called out, even when it’s directed at women we dislike, because that’s what feminism is about. If [...]

By: spielster

spielster — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:10:44 +0000

Here’s my issue…Palin spent hours of useful TV appearance time demonizing Letterman and basically calling him a pedophile who supports statutory rape. Anyone with common sense understands that the joke was crude, but a reflection on the sexualities of Bristol and A-Rod, not the 14 year old girl.

I dont agree and Im glad he apologized, but I would prefer that while Palin was hogging all that media attention, yelling about liberals, misogyny and the like, that she had taken an opportunity to further anything for women as a whole, as opposed to herself. She continuously positions herself as a victim of the media, when she is enjoying any time she gets in the spotlight.

By: orlando

orlando — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 02:30:07 +0000

Could I please remind people that it wasn’t just the A-Rod joke? Have you already forgotten the Elliot Spitzer line? Basically Letterman was implying (and let’s just for the moment give him a courtesy he doesn’t deserve by assuming he really was referring to Bristol) that because a girl had premarital sex a man can assume she’s a prostitute. Would anyone like to suggest any context in which we should accept that?

By: Spark

Spark — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:54:28 +0000

@Liz: Yikes, I wasn’t defending a rape joke. I thought it became a rape joke because the target was Willow, who’s 14. If he was talking about Bristol, it’s not rape. Unless I’m remembering the wording incorrectly. I concede that my Palin-Rage may be affecting my judgment, but Bristol is making her sexuality a public topic of conversation, so it’s tough to defend her.

By: Lyndsay

Lyndsay — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:51:16 +0000

There’s not much I’ve seen to like about her beliefs but I do like how she speaks confidently and makes sure what she wants to say is heard even when the reporter is trying to interrupt.

By: Meg

Meg — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:39:13 +0000

“Even sexism directed at a woman who IS HERSELF A SEXIST is sexism that needs to be called out.”

Yes, this. I still don’t LIKE Sarah Palin’s politics or personality, but she shouldn’t be subject to mysogyny any more than you or I should. End of story, as far as I’m concerned.

The whole “she’s being hypocritical, using her children for political gain, etc.” argument is an interesting and valid one, but it doesn’t justify the joke that provoked this whole thing, and doesn’t absolve us from the responsibility to call Dave out on them – it just justifies me not liking her.

By: Meg

Meg — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:33:42 +0000

I’m with all of you who are a bit mystified by the Jezebel reaction. To be fair, there are a number of people commenting over there who’ve said they’re totally with Sarah on this, but feel that the way she’s been talking about it smack of political opportunism.

But the number of people trying to argue their way into claiming the jokes were somehow OK is just ridiculous. Misogyny isn’t ok, rape jokes aren’t ok, no matter who they’re aimed toward. End of story.

By: sarah.of.a.lesser.god

sarah.of.a.lesser.god — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:08:41 +0000

@bluebears: Oh Margaret Carlson, REALLY? No, the right-wing (and not exclusively the right-wing, BTW) loves to ridicule feminists for reasons that have nothing to do with “tasteless jokes”.