Misogyny Within Liberalism

If you thought the bipartisan feminist outrage towards Joy Behar's sexist comments toward Sharron Angle has hit its peak, you ain't seen nothin' yet. The anger from women both on the left and the right has reached a new boiling point.  

Today, a left leaning website, Gawker.com has published a vile and despicable article about Christine O'Donnell in which an anonymous writer talks about his one night stand with her. Liberal and conservative feminists are extremely furious at the website for publishing the article. Even the liberal National Organization for Women (NOW) is horrified by the article:

"Sexist, misogynist attacks against women have no place in the electoral process, regardless of a particular candidate's political ideology.

Today the tabloid website Gawker published an anonymous piece titled "I Had A One-Night Stand With Christine O'Donnell" that takes the routine sexual degradation of women candidates to a disgusting new low. NOW repudiates Gawker's decision to run this piece. It operates as public sexual harassment. And like all sexual harassment, it targets not only O'Donnell, but all women contemplating stepping into the public sphere.

NOW/PAC has proudly endorsed women's rights champion Chris Coons, O'Donnell's opponent in the Delaware Senate race, and finds O'Donnell's political positions dangerous for women. That does not mean it's acceptable to use slut-shaming against her, or any woman.

NOW has repeatedly called out misogyny against women candidates, and this election season is no different. Let me be honest: I look forward to seeing Christine O'Donnell defeated at the polls, but this kind of sexist attack is an affront to all women, and I won't stand for it."

I rarely agree with NOW but they're 100% correct in calling this a "new low" in misogynist literature.

What amazes me is how very few people are troubled by how much of the sexist and misogynist statements have come from liberals. Not all liberals are misogynist, of course, yet a disturbing pattern is emerging. Even a liberal woman such as Kirsten Powers has noticed this trend and has listed a few examples of liberal sexism towards conservative women.

The widespread notion that liberals are open minded, tolerant and accepting of people who come from diverse backgrounds is starting to fall. People have assumed that feminism was a cause that was primarily championed by liberals. They used to oppose discrimination against females, not engage in it. They used to demand respect for women, not demean them. Liberals were once fond of explaining that women were free to express their opinion on issues, but now they are required to support certain causes in order to be "authentic" women. Democratic Representative Janis Baird Sontany explains that "you have to lift their skirts to find out if they are women. You sure can’t find out by how they vote.”

However, a new trend may be starting. This is the second time that feminists, specifically liberal feminists have gone to defend conservative women. We maybe witnessing an awakening among left leaning feminists. They are realizing that liberalism has abandoned feminism. Feminists might be starting to see that if liberal men, women and organizations are willing to smear conservative women such as Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina, Sharron Angle, and Christine O'Donnel; then they were never a feminist to begin with. To denigrate conservative women is really a manifestation of sexism towards women in general. One liberal blogger explains this point by stating that "sexism hurts all women, all little girls, all old ladies, women everywhere." 

Thus, liberals aren't just tearing down conservative women, but all women.

In fact, feminsts may be realizing that modern liberals have only been paying lip service to their cause. They might be waking up to the fact that liberalism is more concerned about advancing their agenda than promoting respect and kindness towards all women. Some may realized that the 2010 elections have merely exposed the misogyny and sexism that has been growing within liberalism for a long time now.  

Some feminists like Tammy Bruce, have come to that realization a long time ago: 

"As a gay woman who spent most of her adult life pushing the cart for liberal causes with liberal friends in a liberal city, I found that sexism, racism and homophobia are staples in the liberal world. The huge irony is liberals spend every ounce of energy promoting the notion that they are the banner carriers of individualism and personal freedom, yet the hammer comes down on anyone who dares not to conform to, or who dissents even in part from, the liberal agenda." 

As feminists begin to realize that liberalism has abandoned feminism and developed little respect for women, they may realize that conservatives have embraced feminism. 

Women are free to be stay at home mothers or become the next Governor of California or the next senator from Nevada or a female talk show host. But most importantly, women are to be respected and honored as she pursues her chosen path in life, expresses her thoughts and feelings and become the women she desires to be.