I finally dug out the book with this 1967 graphic illustrating the sexism of the era's 'progressive' men. The graphic of the girl in a polka-dot dress was meant to be a vile sneer at feminism. It was published in the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) newpaper, New Left Notes, in response to the emerging Women's Liberation Movement. Ridicule has always been the first response to women's demands for fairness.
Yesteryear's New Left men are the mirror image of many of today's 'progressive' Obama supporters, or as they like to term themselves: "the Creative Class." It was Markos Moulitsas' response to the writers strike at Daily Kos that reminded me of this pictorial jab at uppity women from the sexist 'progressive' men of the 1960s.
Alegre called for a writers strike or boycott of the heavily white male Daily Kos site because her experience there was like that of Hillary supporters all over the net:
"We Clinton supporters are continually attacked and even threatened. The atmosphere has become so poisonous that we could do nothing else but take our discussions elsewhere."
Markos responded by calling the strike "laughable."
Bill Maher's line-up tonight on his famously sexist HBO show includes Markos Moulitsas. As is sometimes the case, tonight's panel of men includes a token woman. Obviously, there will be serious Hillary bashing on tonight's show.
Never mind the fact that Maher is a serial misogynist, Markos recently went so far as to endorse the divisive view that Hillary Clinton is not a Democrat! I guess that means that all the women, Hispanics, working class and elderly folks who vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton are also not Democrats.
And some of us wonder where all the toxic politics of division comes from.
Graphic via Daring to Be Bad, Radical Feminism in America, 1967-1975, by Alice Echols.
Update: eRiposte has a great post on CDS & Lord Kos' effective proclamation that Hillary Rodham Clinton is Not a Democrat -- "[I]t is sad that fact-free, irrational, hate-filled, blog posts - something that used to be the domain of Little Green Fascists and other lower life forms on the Right - have become part of the mainstream of Sen. Obama's blogger base on the internets."
Bill Maher Hillary Clinton Daily Kos Feminist Politics Democratic Primary Gender News Writers Strike ABC News Debate Sexist Progressive Politics Misogyny New Left 1960s
