From what I’ve seen, Rep. Katie Porter (D, California) is one of the best people in Congress. 1I’m basing this on limited information: namely, the way she skewered ultra-rich corporate executives when they testified before Congress. It’s entirely possible that she is unaware of or … Continue reading She is also, well, somewhat portly, as can be seen in the photos accompanying a profile of her in Elle magazine.
Imagine that she went to some college to give a talk, and in the Q&A afterwards a student asked if it would be OK for some to get together to create a GoFundMe account to pay for Rep. Porter to enroll in a weight reduction program. Taken aback at the idiocy of the question, Rep. Porter simply responds, “I don’t think that’s necessary. My boyfriend likes me just the way I am.” She then moves on to the next question.
Now imagine there’s a podcast called The Hilarity Report. The hosts at this hypothetical podcast — Samantha, Emmitt, and a host they just refer to by his last name, Gomiki — don’t like Rep. Porter. Maybe they’re Marxist types who think of her as ‘reformist trash,’ or maybe they’re Crowder types who hate all liberals and lefties. For whatever reason, they’ve taken to mocking her. Someone calls in to their show about the Rep. Porter incident, and the hosts can scarcely conceal their amusement at the attempt to embarrass her about her weight. Emmitt and Gomiki in particular respond with gales of laughter at the idea of Rep. Porter mentioning her boyfriend. SO funny!!!
I think that most progressives — especially those who identify as feminists — would find this pretty distasteful. I would. Some would even condemn it as misogynist. I suspect Emma Vigelund of The Majority Report (TMR) and Nomiki Konst of The Nomiki Show (and occasional guest at TMR) would agree.
Keep that in mind as you watch the video embedded in this tweet: 2You may have to click on one of the links to watch the clip, depending on your browser settings.
The real life situation of TMR hosts mocking journalist Michael Tracey 3FWIW, I’m very dubious about the way Michael and others are opposing COVID vaccination and lockdown mandates. The question of whether I’m ‘pro Michael’ is completely … Continue reading is actually a bit worse than my hypothetical involving Rep. Porter. According to a subsequent tweet by Michael, his mention of his girlfriend was in a different context than the ‘hair transplant’ trolling. Of course, the whole reason Emma and Nomiki found it hilarious that Michael mentioned his girlfriend in the first place is because it suggested that Michael was insecure about his masculinity, which is a major offense against the sexist patriarchal standards that men are forced to abide by.
Unless I’m wrong about how Emma, Nomiki, and Sam would react to someone body-shaming Rep. Porter, this snippet appears to epitomize what I think of as ‘patriarchal feminism’: the hypocritical stance adopted by too many feminist pundits who passionately oppose sexism against women but who are only too eager to tolerate or even promote comparable sexism towards men.
Emma, Nomiki, and Sam are intelligent and talented hosts at The Majority Report. They really have no excuse for engaging in this sort of hypocrisy.
| ⇡1 | I’m basing this on limited information: namely, the way she skewered ultra-rich corporate executives when they testified before Congress. It’s entirely possible that she is unaware of or indifferent to instances where society and government are biased against men. |
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| ⇡2 | You may have to click on one of the links to watch the clip, depending on your browser settings. |
| ⇡3 | FWIW, I’m very dubious about the way Michael and others are opposing COVID vaccination and lockdown mandates. The question of whether I’m ‘pro Michael’ is completely irrelevant to the point of my post, of course. |
The tweet does show up as embedded.
This post had made me reflect on Sam Seder’s famous ambush of Steven Crowder. I found it very amusing at the time it happened, but now I’m having second thoughts. Sam’s behaviour was very stalkerish. I think my reaction, and the general reaction, would have been very different if Crowder had been a woman.
Crowder apparently confirmed Sam was on his own stream before going on H3, to make sure Sam wouldn’t be able to ambush him. Sam had prerecorded part of his stream to mislead Crowder into thinking he was safe. This is extreme behaviour, and was part of a pattern of behaviour where Sam tried to achieve this same thing.
When Crowder still refused to engage with Sam, that was presented as cowardice on Crowder’s part, and Sam and Ethan mocked him for his alleged cowardice and for working with his father. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a female commentator accused of cowardice, let alone infantilised for having a good relationship with his father.
Thanks for the feedback, Stephen.
I don’t agree that Seder was acting ‘stalkerish’ with Crowder, though you may be right that more people would view it that way if Crowder was female. From what little I’ve seen, Crowder definitely falls into the ‘can dish it out but can’t take it’ category, and he’s been very aggressive in using toxic rhetoric to put down the left. So, I kind of admired Seder using ‘fiendishly clever’ trickery to try to engage Crowder in a fair (rhetorical) fight.
OTOH, I completely agree with you about the inappropriate way TMR has taken to mocking Crowder for the involvement of his father in his podcast business. (They even incorporate this meme into the cartoon music video they have that blasts Crowder.) It’s a take that makes NO sense unless you subscribe to the patriarchal notion that men aren’t supposed to have close relationships with their parents and aren’t supposed to rely on others in their business relationships. Great point!
Hello after a very long time, ballgame! Are you still up and running?