Monday, November 20, 2006

Feminists, Where's the Outcry?

Remember the hysteria from feminists when Ann Althouse made fun of Jessica from Feministing's pose (which made her breasts look bigger) in a picture with Bill Clinton? I sure do, mainly because I was castigated for not decrying sexist comments soon enough.

The most enlightening part of that discussion, for me, was hearing self-declared feminists saying openly that they didn't care about Bill Clinton's behavior as long as he voted for abortion and other standard feminist goals. It was absolutely stunning to me that they didn't see the disconnect in doing so.

But the reason I thought about that post was when I read these comments over at Huffington Post regarding a story about Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, the write-in candidate who will replace Tom DeLay in a Houston Republican district for the next two months, but who was defeated for the full-term by Democrat Nick Lampson. The story itself is confusing (why would her entire staff walk out and why would it damage her chances in '08?), but the comments were extremely enlightening. I can't repeat them here, since I typically don't use that language, but you can just go to the link above to get the gist.

What made me compare it to the flap about Feministing's shirt was the virulent reaction from feminists like Echidne about some disturbing anti-woman comments at Ann Althouse's blog. But I can't find a single mention at Echidne's (or any other feminist blog that I frequent) of the nasty sexist comments about this Republican woman. Is it ok when such arrows are pointed at Republican women but not at liberal ones? I have to wonder.