I used to think people in this group exaggerated the level of misogyny on this site...

[frazzled]

62. Ditto (many thanks to Bjorn), and the Pollitt quote really does seem true

As a woman, I am not someone who spends a lot of my mental energy thinking about women's issues, and I've never even been to the feminism forum here. But there are times when the everyday invisibility of misogyny just rears up and smacks you in the face, and you realize that it must be brought out in the open and fought against, no matter how much society wants to normalize it, or ignore it.

Let us recall that the feminist movements of the 60s and 70s did not so much arise as a reaction to conservative forces but to the male hegemony (and attendant misogyny) of movements on the radical left of that era.

It seems that we can more easily recognize incidents of racism or homophobia than incidents of misogyny: that is how ingrained the acceptance of inequality for women is in our society. Whether we are talking about offensive representations of women in films or the media, job or housing discrimination that women face, or actual violence against women (which is so frequent we seem to think it is not even worth talking about), it seems that people want to ignore it or dismiss it as an issue entirely. Misogyny does truly seem to be the last acceptable bigotry.

I don't care whether we're talking about Sports Illustrated or Julian Assange or Anthony Weiner's selfies: women must not be afraid to stand up--even stridently--against inequality and intolerance. And such discussions shouldn't be relegated to a back-room forum. I'm proud that many DU women are fighting back openly (along with enlighted men such as Bjorn). I, for one, intend not to back down on these issues in the future.