Sexism

Sam Adler-Bell recently published a profile in New York magazine about women who have left, or are quietly leaving, the New Right. Alex Kaschuta, an influential writer and former host of the podcast Subversive, publicly split with the movement after years of genuine intellectual engagement that included interviewing many of its architects, from Curtis Yarvin to Darryl Cooper. Another woman, a mother and former true believer who wrote for right-wing outlets and worked for conservative institutions, requested anonymity because she fears for the physical safety of herself and her children. Both describe a movement that once promised women a place at the table and now openly treats them, in the anonymous source’s words, as “subhuman: subrational, non-agentic, cattle.

Vice President Kamala Harris has been quoted as saying her media coverage would be better if she were a white man. She is absolutely right. She wouldn’t have bad coverage. She wouldn’t have any coverage at all. That’s because she would still be a minor senator from a big state, not the second-highest official in the Executive Branch. She was selected only because she has the identity-politics markers so important to Democrats. It should be obvious by now that Harris is a terrible politician. When friendly reporters toss her softballs, she swings, misses and blames them. When she is given hard policy assignments, she swings and misses those, too. (In her defense, her main assignment, immigration, is President Biden’s failure, not her’s.

Just when you thought Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s collective victim complex couldn’t get any more vast and cavernous, up they pop again to make clear, in pained tones, just how persecuted this multimillionaire formerly royal couple believe themselves to be. We already knew that their allies think ‘Megxit’ was all about racism. That their departure from the monarchy, freeing them up to cut lucrative deals in the United States, was forced by their supposedly racist treatment by the tabloids. Now we learn it was also all about misogyny, and that the term ‘Megxit’ is itself shot through with hatred for the Duchess of Sussex.

Ever wonder why President Biden doesn’t take questions very often? Or more accurately, why his staff doesn’t allow him to take questions? The easy lay-up handed to him about an altercation between an activist organization and Arizona senator Kyrsten Sinema offers a perfect example. Biden was asked whether he believes it was appropriate for immigration activists to follow Sinema into a women’s restroom and film her. The President, who could have resoundingly condemned the behavior using the podium of the presidency of the United States, chose not to. In fact, he passively endorsed the activists’ conduct by saying that ‘it happens to everybody’ and that ‘the only people it doesn’t happen to are people who have Secret Service around them.

Being a somewhat old-fashioned person, Cockburn is skeptical of latter-day feminism and the utter sanctity of a woman’s right to choose. So it’s quite odd that he also feels compelled to defend progressive womanhood from Planned Parenthood, which quite unexpectedly has come out in favor of misogyny. ‘I’m the Head of Planned Parenthood. We’re Done Making Excuses for Our Founder,’ says the headline from current Planned Parenthood president Alexis McGill Johnson. The context is Planned Parenthood’s ongoing cancellation of Margaret Sanger over her support for ideas that are today unpopular, such as sterilization, eugenics, and freedom of speech.

Another day, another Covid advertising fail for the government. Fresh from discontinuing a radio ad suggesting joggers and dog-walkers are 'highly likely' to have coronavirus, a 'stay home, save lives' poster has been pulled.  The advert, which showed women cleaning and caring for children while a man lounged on a sofa, sparked accusations of sexism. 'It has been withdrawn and removed from the campaign. I will make clear that it does not reflect the government's view on women which is why we have withdrawn it,' Boris Johnson's official spokesperson said today.  Oh dear..