LIVE AT FIVE: 08.13.14

Well, by now most of you Loyal Readers are aware that Stacy, Bill Hoge, Ali and Aaron Walker won their case against the Dread Pro Se Litigant Brett Kimberlin, and I think it only appropriate to begin this celebratory Rule 5 Tuesday post with a pic of Stacy enjoying his victory:

“…nobody with any sense tries to out-crazy Stacy McCain.”
-Instapundit
(original photo courtesy of Dave Weigel via Twitter)

Moving right along: as usual, this post contains to links of (usually) attractive women (usually) scantily clad so one can better appreciate their beauty. Some of the links are to pics that are definitely (as opposed to possibly) Not Safe For Work (NSFW), and if you are dumb enough to click on the links in a place where doing so would get you fired, sued, dumped by your SO, or otherwise subjected to public or private humiliation, well, all I can say is I Told You So.

Randy’s Roundtable kicks off the festivities this week with Amanda Roadmen, followed by Goodstuff with the young Victoria Principal and a tale of a good deed gone wrong, Animal Magnetism with Rule 5 Friday and the Saturday Gingermageddon, and Ninety Miles from Tyranny with Morning Mistress Points, Hot Pick of the – DAMN!, and Russian Girls with Russian Guns. Blackmailers Don’t Shoot checks in with the Rule 5 Roundup featuring Iggy Azalea. First Street Journal as usual has his own take on Rule 5; this week, it’s Women In Combat In History.

EBL’s herd of heifers this week includes Yazidi women, Broncos cheerleaders, and Grace Kelly.

At Soylent Refuge, it’s your morning Mandarins, Overnighty Masque, Monday Motivationer Morning Delight, Ididarod?, Tuesday Titillation Box Set, Evening Awesome Metal Fatigue, Humpday Hawtness, Falconsword Fursday El Fuego, Corsets And Such, T-GIF Friday Skybox, Weekender Presley, and Bath Night.

Proof Positive’s Friday Night Babe is Danielle Knudson, his Vintage Babe is Helen Mirren, and Sex in Advertising is covered (sic) by Victoria’s Secret; meanwhile, at Dustbury, it’s the long-awaited Zooeypalooza XXI!

The DaleyGator’s DaleyBabes this week included Haruka Mori, Chiaki Kuriyama, Jillian Beyor, Ayumi Ninomiya, Melissa George, Christi Paul, Hatsuho Tani, Markeshia Thomas, Chitose Sinjyo, Rachel Nichols, Meru Wakatsuki, Nadia Forde, Sara Chafak (and more Sara), Ai Yuzuki, Michelle Zen, and Lesley Ann Brandt. Also, Friday Random Hotness, Saturday Random Beauty, and Rear Views.

Thanks to everyone for their linkagery! Submissions for next week’s Rule 5 roundup are due to the Rule 5 Wombat mailbox no later than midnight Saturday, August 16.

Visit Amazon’s Intimate Apparel Shop

LIVE AT FIVE: 08.12.14

Posted on | August 12, 2014 | 17 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

TOP NEWS
Obama Lauds New Iraq Leaders Despite Maliki’s Protests

“Can I get back to my vacation now?”

President Fuad Massum picks Haider Al-Abadi as PM, replacing al-Maliki
Air mission in Iraq still focused on refugee aid
State Dept. spokesman Marie Harf says Administration has started arming the Kurds

Supply Of Experimental Ebola Drug Exhausted After Shipments To Africa
San Diego company Mapp Pharmaceutical provided ZMapp at no cost

Hopes For Peace In Gaza Rise After Ceasefire Holds Overnight
Israeli negotiators arrive in Cairo for talks

POLITICS
FBI Steps In Amidst Rioting After Police Shoot Missouri Youth

Car windows smashed, stores looted after vigil

Unrest continues for a third night in mostly black St. Louis suburb

Federal Agencies Spending Millions On Union Business

Florida Legislature Approves New Congressional District Maps

IRS Submits Official Declarations To Court To Explain Missing Lerner E-Mails

Government Forms Task Force To Avoid Future Healthcare.gov Disasters

USPS Loses $2 Billion This Spring

THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Asian Crude Falls On Easing Supply Fears: WTI $97.81, Brent $104.46
Kinder Morgan CEO Makes $1 Billion In A Morning On Consolidation Deal
$611 Million Offer For Chiquita Would Scuttle Inversion
Market Basket A Rare Case In The Labor World
Caesars Loss Widens On Atlantic City Weakness
Burger King Stock Up As Chicken Fries Return Due To Popular Demand
School System CIOs Sold On Chromebooks
Apple Suppliers Begin Production Of New iPads
Google, Asian Telecoms To Build $300 Billion Cable To Japan
“Doom” Co-Creator John Romero Working On Another Shooter, 14 Years Later
Play “Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare” One Day Early With Day Zero Edition

SPORTS
King Felix, M’s Start Crucial Series With Rout Of Jays

Felix Hernandez: 16th start with less than two runs in seven innings

Seattle crushes Toronto 11-1

Stanton Homers Twice, Leads Fish Past Cardinals 6-5

Correia Wins Dodgers Debut, Beats Braves 6-2

Recker Belts Game-Winning Dinger As Mets Top Phillies 5-3

Mistake-Prone Astros Lose 4-2 As Mauer Returns To Twins

Yankees Fall 7-3 To O’s, Drop 7 Games Back

Royals Edge A’s 3-2 For 8th Straight Win

Pirates Cruise To 11-6 Win Over Injury-Riddled Tigers

NBA Fines Raptors For Rapper Drake’s Pitch To Durant

Solarte HR Carries Padres Over Rockies

Rays Blank Rangers As Colby Lewis Goes Wild, 7-0

Girl Pitches Shutout To Lead Team Into Little World Series

Cubs Waste Arrieta’s Effort In 3-1 Loss To Brewers

Royals Acquire Josh Willingham From Twins For Playoff Push

Kate Upton: Yankee Stadium Barred Me From Wearing Tigers Gear

Nats Place OF Souza On DL, Recall OF Taylor From Syracuse

FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Courtney Stodden’s Engaged Again…

…to estranged beau Doug Hutchinson, 54

Confirmed on Twitter after Friday’s appearance on VH1’s “Couples Therapy”

Robin Williams Dead At 63; Suicide Suspected After Rehab

Teen Choice Stars Get Preachy, Turn Show Into PSA Fest

“Game Of Thrones” Actor J.J. Williams Dies After Filming Part

Ramona Singer’s Husband Mario Spotted Arm In Arm With Gal Pal Days After Split

Kyle & Eva Amurri Martino: It’s A Girl!

Kelly Rutherford – My Kids Have Been Illegally Deported!

“Harry Potter” Actor Daniel Radcliffe Admits He’s Not A Good Actor

The Rock – Police Chase Preceded Mom’s Head-On Crash

Courtney Love Lost About $27 Million In Nirvana Money, But “I Had To Let It Go”

FOREIGNERS
Singapore Avoids Q2 Contraction: Trade, Services Weaken Outlook
Russia Sends “Aid Mission” To Eastern Ukraine
Maliki Digs In As Obama Backs New PM
Human Rights Watch Says Crimes Against Humanity Likely In Egypt
Amal Alamuddin Turns Down Role On UN Gaza Probe Panel
Kasparov Bid Fails, Eccentric Head Of WCF Reelected
Philippines Arrest Ex-General Wanted For Rights Abuses
Indonesia Offers To Mediate South China Sea Disputes
RAF Joins In Airdrops To Yazidis Stranded On Mount Sinjar

BLOGS & STUFF
Michelle Malkin: Readin’, Writin’, And Social Justice Agitatin’
Twitchy: President Obama Angers By Addressing Robin Williams, Staying Silent On Ferguson Riots
American Power: Video – James O’Keefe “Immigrates” Across Rio Grande Dressed As Osama Bin Laden
American Thinker: Obama Is Responsible For The Deaths In Iraq
BLACKFIVE: Volunteers For Kurdistan
Conservatives4Palin: Walter Russell Mead – The Dangers Of Obama’s Intel Mismanagement
Don Surber: Political Scoreboard, August 11
Jammie Wearing Fools: Democrats Still Babbling Over Obama’s Impeachment
Joe For America: Even Andrea Mitchell Fed Up With Obama’s Lies
JustOneMinute: Stuck In Iraq
Protein Wisdom: Monday Morning Coming Down
Shot In The Dark: Chanting Points Memo – Our Slammin’ Economy!
STUMP: Obamacare Watch – More On The Cadillac Tax And Public Employees
The Gateway Pundit: Exclusive – Photos And Video Of Ferguson, Mo. Mass Destruction
The Jawa Report: ISIS Not As Fond Of Death As They Advertise
The Lonely Conservative: Study Finds Cash For Clunkers Decreased Industry Revenue By $3 Billion
This Ain’t Hell: Amnesty International’s Poor Timing
Weasel Zippers: Pope Calls For Armed Response To Stop Islamic State Genocide
Megan McArdle: When Obama Beat Hillary, We All Lost

Shop Amazon – Editors’ Picks for the Top Toys & Games of the Month

Category: Live at Five

TRIAL BEGINS TODAY

Posted on | August 11, 2014 | 63 Comments

Today in Rockville, Maryland, in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County, Aaron Walker, John Hoge, Ali Akbar and myself stand trial for defamation and false light invasion of privacy in the case of Kimberlin v. Walker, et al. This case originally included other claims (stalking, harassment, etc.) that were through out in the preliminaries, and I’m still astonished that the remaining claims were not also dismissed. At dinner last night, I kept repeating that word — “astonished” — to describe my feeling that the case is actually going to trial. Twenty-eight years in the news business without ever being accused of libel, and I get sued for defamation by a notorious bomber.

For a discussion of the issues in the case, see the item Ken White did when Kimberlin sued last September: “Help fight evil in Maryland.” You can help support free speech rights:

BomberSuesBloggers.com

Cynthia Yockey has kindly offered her prayers and suggestions.

Your prayers are earnestly requested, and please remember the Five Most Important Words in the English Language:

HIT THE FREAKING TIP JAR!

Category: The Kimberlin Files

LIVE AT FIVE: 08.11.14

Posted on | August 11, 2014 | 9 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

TOP NEWS
US Airstrikes Bring Early Gains In Iraq

Yazidi boys search for their families at a displaced persons camp in Kurdistan

Two towns retaken by peshmerga; Barzani asks for heavy weapons
Iraqi special forces loyal to PM Maliki seal off Green Zone in Baghdad
ISIS recruiting on the rise among Sunnis in Iraq
Maliki accuses President of breaching constitution

Israel, Hamas Agree To New Truce In Gaza
Netanyahu says no return to talks as long as Hamas keeps firing

Nigeria Struggles To Cope With Ebola Outbreak
Guinea closes borders with Sierra Leone, Liberia

POLITICS
Hawaii’s Incumbent Governor Abercrombie Beaten In Democratic Primary

Neil Abercrombie: incumbent endorsed by Obama, soon to be ex-governor

Incumbent senator Brian Schatz holds narrow 1600-vote lead over challenger Colleen Hayabusa

Former RNC Chair Michael Steele Mulls Another Run For Office

Iowa GOP Targets State Senate For Clean Sweep Of State Government

Hillary Clinton Criticizes Obama For Failure To Act In Syria

Texas Governor Perry Forms RickPAC

State Department Hires Company To Prep Officials For Congressional Grilling

Oracle Sues Oregon Over Healthcare Exchange

THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Asian Crude Sinks After US Airstrikes In Iraq: WTI $98.03, Brent $104.68
Kinder Morgan To Consolidate Units Under One Roof In $70 Billion Deal
Asia Stocks Rise On Wall Street Surge, Dollar Steady After Rebound
Amazon Blocks Pre-Orders Of Disney DVDs Amid Pricing Spat
US Productivity Recovers After Steep Q1 Fall
Arthur Demoulas Accuses Relatives Of “Onerous” Terms
Apple Bringing Siri To The Mac?
Yahoo, Google Teaming Up For Secure E-Mail
Four Reasons Microsoft’s Surface Might Bite The Dust
John McAfee Speaks At DefCon: Laziness At The Expense Of Privacy And Freedom
FCC Orders Support For Text-To-911

SPORTS
Tony Stewart Accidentally Hits, Kills Kevin Ward Jr. In Dirt-Track Race

Stewart last week during a practice for yesterday’s NASCAR race

Confrontation on track after collision ends in death for Ward
No criminal charges pending

Keith Olbermann Being A Douche (Again), This Time About NASCAR

Phillies Rally In The Ninth, Edge Mets 7-6

Mesoraco Homers Twice As Reds Beat Fish 7-2

Cespedes Puts On Power Show, Carries BoSox Over Angels 3-1

Blue Jays Edge Tigers 6-5 In 19-Inning Marathon

Royals Speed Past Giants, Extend Streak To Seven

Cardinals Unleash 17-hit Attack, Beat O’s 8-3

Wood Outduels Gio, Braves Win 3-1

FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
It’s Your Fault Kate Upton Hasn’t Posed Nude, Internet

And you know? I’m okay with that.

“For me, those photos are art…I don’t think my pictures would be received the way I’d want them to be received.”

Menachem Golan, Action Filmmaker, Dies At 85

Weekend Box Office: #1 Turtles Outperform With $65 Million/$97.3 Million Global, #2 Guardian, #3 Storm, #4 Journey

Unspeakable Armenian Set To Release Selfies Book In 2015

Veteran Soap Opera Actor Charles Keating Dead At 72

David Duchovny, Tea Leoni Quietly Divorce

War Machine’s Porn Star GF Can Barely Speak After He Beat Her

Christina Ricci – It’s A Boy!

FOREIGNERS
Erdogan Wins Turkey’s First Direct Vote For President
US Removes Some Staff From Embassy, Consulate In Iraq
Chicoms Reject Kerry’s Efforts On South China Sea Tensions
Chinese, Japanese Foreign Ministers Hold Unofficial Talks On Ties
Iranian Airliner Crashes After Takeoff, Killing 39
Afghanistan Suicide Bomber Targets NATO Convoy, Kills Four Civilians
Ukraine Steps Up Assault On Rebel-Held Donetsk
US Opens Defense Arsenal To India, Seven Offers On Table
Warsi: Failure To Win Over Minorities Will Cost Tories Victory
Osun Governor Aregbesola – Nigeria Is In Political Bondage

BLOGS & STUFF
American Power: Jihad Black Flag, Communist Hammer & Sickle At Hamas Anti-Israel Terror March In London
American Thinker: Transgenderism And Unemployment – What Really Matters
BLACKFIVE: Casting Off The Warriors
Blackmailers Don’t Shoot: NYC Hamas Supporters Display Mexican Flag
Conservatives4Palin: Sally Kohn – Evil White Republicans Have Taken Over And Destroyed Detroit!
Don Surber: Political Scoreboard, August 8
Jammie Wearing Fools: Religion Of Peace – ISIS “Militants” Execute 500 Yazidis, Bury Others Alive, Take 300 Women As Slaves
Joe For America: I’m Spoiled And Lazy But Walmart Should Pay Me More Money Anyway!
JustOneMinute: Regrets, He Has A Few
Protein Wisdom: Oppose Common Core? This Teachers Union President Wants To Punch You In The Face
Shot In The Dark: Protest! With Bacon!
STUMP: Collision Of Public Employees And Obamacare – Collateral Damage
The Gateway Pundit: Hillary Clinton Blames Rise Of Islamic Militants On Obama Policies
The Jawa Report: Single Afghan Woman Fights Back
The Lonely Conservative: NBC On Obama’s Foreign Policy Doctrine – He Doesn’t Have One
This Ain’t Hell: So, What Does POTUS Really Think Of Vets?
Weasel Zippers: Obama Escorted By SWAT Team, Snipers On Dangerous Martha’s Vineyard Golf Course
Megan McArdle: Welcome To Walmart, The Doctor Will See You Now

Rule 5 Sunday will be appearing later today.

Shop Amazon – Contract Cell Phones & Service Plans

Category: Live at Five

‘Hi, We’re Lesbian Feminists and We’re Here to Talk to Your Daughter About Sex’

Posted on | August 10, 2014 | 141 Comments

Carmen Rios (@c_rios) is a “raging lesbian feminist” who is (a) communications coordinator for the Feminist Majority Foundation, and (b) a columnist for the lesbian blog Autostraddle.

On her Twitter account, Rios calls herself the “Tweeter-in-Chief” for the Feminist Majority Foundation’s account @Majority Speaks, which means Rios was responsible for this message:

That message linked a blog post at the Feminist Majority Foundation’s blog, which cites a study that claims: “Children should begin receiving formal education about sexual health as early as age 10” because “sexuality and gender identity begin emerging between the ages of 10 and 14.” It’s important to reach kids while they are “still malleable,” the researchers said:

“If programs, based on the healthy adolescent framework, rooted in human rights and gender equity, are implemented at a time when adolescents are still malleable and relatively free of sexual and reproductive health problems and gender role bias, very young adolescents can be guided safely through this life stage, supported by their parents, families and communities.”

Hmmm. They want to target these programs, based on “gender equity,” at kids who “are still malleable and relatively free of . . . gender role bias.” What do you think those terms “gender equity” and “gender role bias” mean? And why are Carmen Rios and the Feminist Majority Foundation so excited about this? If you were a suspicious type of person, you might wonder about such things.

People sometimes ask me, “Stacy, where do you find this crazy stuff?” In this case, I was looking for some information about university Women’s Studies programs and — thank you, Carmen Rios! — encountered a very interesting Autostraddle article:

Rebel Girls: The Illustrated (And Quite
Condensed) History of Women’s Studies

Among other things, Ms. Rios reported in that article:

Ms. magazine found that over 900 programs in the women’s studies field were functioning in the US in 2009. That meant 10,000 courses teaching over 90,000 students at 700 colleges and universities across the nation were fueling critical thought on gender, class, race and sexuality. That included 31 Master’s programs and 13 Ph.D. programs across the country and the world.

This was the information I was looking for — data on the number of Women’s Studies programs and their enrollment — and it is further helpful to know that (a) Ms. magazine is published by the Feminist Majority Foundation, and (b) this research about Women’s Studies was done “with generous support from the Ford Foundation.” However, Carmen Rios’ article at Autrostraddle did not merely chronicle the history and provide statistical data about Women’s Studies. She included this bit of colorful commentary:

In the early 2000s, academics across the discipline grappled with a title for their field. . . .
Is it Gender Studies? Women’s Studies? Women’s And Gender Studies? Sexuality Studies? Gender and Sexuality Studies? LGBT Studies? Queer Studies? Feminist Studies? . . .
Coursework in a women’s studies class today might cover issues of race, sexuality, gender expression and identity, sexualization and socialization of women, global women’s rights and various international diaspora, history, art or peace. Women’s Studies remains an interdisciplinary field, making its name all the more difficult to decide on. Is it Women’s History and Theory, or is the program really Lesbo Recruitment 101?

She said that, not me, although it is helpful to have — from the communications coordinator of the Feminist Majority Foundation, no less — such a frank admission of the not-so-hidden agenda in Women’s Studies as it is generally taught on American college campuses. And obviously, “the personal is the political” for Carmen Rios:

Women’s Studies Saved My Life, And
I Want It To Change Yours, Too
I think women’s studies saved my life, but I don’t know what that means. Maybe that I’m not good at anything else – that I failed at being normal, that I failed at falling into line, that I failed at being everyone else, that I’ll never talk to God. . . .

(This is another possible definition of “feminist” — a woman who has “failed at being normal.”)

When I was 17, I took my first women’s studies class. I was still in high school, but I had elected to take courses at the local community college. . . .

(Got to reach ’em early, you see.)

The woman at the helm of this experience was named Bonnie. “I try to remain impartial about most things,” she told us, “except for two: Ronald Reagan and Phyllis Schafly.”
That was when everything changed. . . .

(Not that there’s any political agenda involved, you see.)

I was raised a feminist — albeit one who, before this class, knew almost nothing of my foremothers or the movement I would come to call home. . . .
Then one day, I was 17, and Hillary Clinton was running for President, and every day I would eat yogurt with granola at the café in the student center and swing my legs while I read from our textbooks for my course. I started to realize how connected I was to something so much larger than myself, and how important it was for me to recognize that, to own it, to live it. . . . This one course had shifted my core. It had shattered my entire understanding of the world. . . .
For me, the rest is herstory: I graduated high school, became a women’s studies major and a raging lesbian feminist in college, and moved into the non-profit sector. I went into that movement and never came back out — and now, I do my best in my professional life to bring it to everyone else.

How many times do I have to repeat it? Feminism is a journey to lesbianism. Women’s Studies is a vehicle for that journey, as Carmen Rios is honest enough to admit. It’s interesting to see how prominent she was as a student at American University in 2011:

You’ve definitely heard her name around campus or at least seen her and her hard-to-miss hairdo crossing the quad on a mission. Frankly, if you haven’t, you don’t even go here. Carmen Rios, current director of Women’s Initiative (WI) is a staple on American University’s campus. She’s got wild hair and a feisty attitude to match. . . .
Carmen was a big part of Slut Walk DC back in the summer [of 2011] and even spoke at the event! Because she came to DC, she was able to nail awesome internships like Holla Back DC!, a grassroots organization aimed at ending sexual harassment and assault in DC. As well as the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, which conducts research geared toward the needs of women to promote public dialog, and the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF), which promotes women’s equality and empowerment. . . .
Keep an eye out for some study breaks and big events this spring from Women’s Initiative! They’ll be hosting The Vagina Monologues, celebrating Women’s History Month in March, and, of course, Take Back the Night will take place in April again.

You can read the whole thing, but there are two words you won’t find in that feature profile: “gay” or “lesbian.” Why would this campus publication omit these terms from an article about the student director of American University’s Women’s Initiative, when she herself identified as a “raging lesbian”? Never mind. The more relevant point is her involvement with events like Slut Walk DC and “Take Back the Night,” both of which are about rape. Campus activism about rape provides a means of disseminating the core message of feminist ideology, i.e., that men are evil and dangerous and that male sexuality is inherently violent and oppressive to women. She won an award for this:

Carmen Rios, current Director of Women’s Initiative, was the co-recipient of the Feminist Research Award for her efforts to end sexual violence on college campuses. Rios says, “the topic of sexual violence is consistently relevant to college-aged women, since one out of every four undergraduate women will experience sexual assault.”

This “one out of every four” claim is a phony statistic lacking empirical support. But who needs facts when you’ve got an ideology?

As anti-rape strategies go, becoming a “raging lesbian feminist in college” could arguably be effective, which may be why lesbian feminists so frequently lament that their numbers are so few. According to a Huffington Post survey last year, only 18 percent of women identify themselves as feminists, and only 5 percent call themselves “strong” feminists. By a 32-29 margin, a larger percentage of women consider “feminist” a negative term than a positive term. And despite decades of gay activism, about 98 percent of women are heterosexual, according to government research.

Fanatical ideologues are not easily deterred, however. If decades of campus activism aimed at turning college girls into man-haters — Women’s Studies as “Lesbo Recruitment 101,” as Ms. Rios calls it — have so far failed to have the intended effect, then obviously they need to reach girls at an earlier age. There might be some parental resistance, of course, if these radicals were honest, showing up at your local elementary school and declaring: “Hi, we’re lesbian feminists and we’re here to talk to your daughter about sex.”

Instead, the American Association of University Women has started advocating to implement “gender studies” programs in public high schools, and the Feminist Majority Foundation is enthusiastic about the prospect of teaching 10-year-olds about “sexuality and gender identity” with a focus on “gender equity” while girls “are still malleable and relatively free of . . . gender role bias.” Now, if only they can do something to stop all those heteronormative Disney cartoons . . .

THE ‘SEX TROUBLE’ SERIES:

Category: Education, Feminism, Gays, Sex Trouble

Shrew Culture Update

Posted on | August 9, 2014 | 26 Comments

This week, First Lady Michelle Obama said something weird:

“We can’t waste the spotlight. Time is short. Change is needed. And women are smarter than men,” Obama said during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit to a laughing audience, according to White House press pool reports.
She continued, “And the men can’t complain because they are outnumbered today.”
Obama and former first lady Laura Bush spoke on Wednesday at the summit’s “spousal program.” The daylong event took place at the Kennedy Center, where the first ladies addressed spouses of African leaders visiting the capital this week for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.

What was this about? What prompted the First Lady’s remark? Why did the audience laugh? Why was this funny? Nobody has been able to explain. However, feminist Jessica Valenti felt a need to interpret the “joke” (and reaction to it) as a critique of sexism:

Michelle Obama told a joke about men
they didn’t find funny. That’s hilarious
When I saw that Michelle Obama joked at the US-Africa Leaders Summit this week that “women are smarter than men”, I prepared myself for backlash. And — what do you know? — Politico wrote that the First Lady had “engaged in a battle of the sexes”, anti-feminist author and Fox News contributor Suzanne Venker called it a “sexist and elitist display”, and the headline at Business Standard read “Michelle Obama claims women are smarter than men”. As if it were a serious assertion rather than a joking aside!
This isn’t the very first time Michelle Obama has taken flak for, well, just about anything. Her tenure in the White House has been marked by nasty racist and sexist attacks (in fact, they started before President Obama took office) on her body, her feminism — even her love of Beyoncé.
But when the First Lady made the quip — at an event with former first lady Laura Bush, while addressing the spouses of African leaders — it wasn’t a humorless dig at men. It was a light-hearted moment of girl-power on the outskirts of a conference for heads of state that is incredibly male-dominated.
Actually, I wish she’d said it with the intention of mocking men — with all that political, economic and social power they’ve cornered by marginalizing women, I think they can take a light ribbing. (I’d prefer a total overthrow of the patriarchy, but I’ve always had champagne tastes.)
Besides, laughter is the best medicine, especially when it’s a guffaw redirected right in the face of sexists.

So, according to Jessica Valenti, this was a “joking aside,” “a light-hearted moment of girl-power,” “a quip,” “a guffaw redirected right in the face of sexists.” Except it wasn’t. What the First Lady said was not a “quip.” This was not clever wordplay, a pithy aphorism worthy of Dorothy Parker. No, it was a non sequitur. And it was neither directed nor redirected in the face of sexists.

Rather than defend this nonsensical “joke,” however, Jessica Valenti goes on the offense, claiming that the reaction to Mrs. Obama’s opaque attempt at humor proves . . . well, something about how stupid men are: “Hahaha, men don’t get the joke!”

What Jessica Valenti is displaying here is an example of what Professor Glenn Reynolds has called “shrew culture,” i.e., feminism as a perverse and sadistic desire to humiliate males. There is a sort of gender narcissism at work — a self-flattery in which feminists praise themselves merely for being women — as well as an exaggerated version of the typical insecure person’s attempt to build themselves up by tearing down others: “I’m awesome because I’m a woman and, hey, all men are stupid sexists. Praise me!”

Somehow, to the Jessica Valentis of the world, this is actually supposed to be funny. And if you don’t laugh at such “quips,” that just proves what a stupid sexist you are. Q.E.D. But the humor-impaired Valenti, having failed to make an argument or to say anything funny herself, continues onward to a conclusion of ideological rigidity:

In all fairness, joking about men’s (supposed) inferiority doesn’t change the systemic power system through which they benefit. But so long as it irritates the misogynists in our midst – and gives women some much-needed moments of levity – I’ll keep encouraging women to laugh at ridiculous men who just want them to stop already. Signaling that women will do whatever they damn please regardless of what men think is a winning strategy.

Notice how she repeats dogmatic assertions. Men have monopolized “political, economic and social power . . . by marginalizing women” through a “systemic power system.” (Do you think Valenti could explain what a non-systemic power system looks like?) The repetition of ideological dogma is not funny. People are not laughing with you, Jessica Valenti. They’re laughing at you.

Category: Feminism