Why is DU in a gender war anyway?

[BainsBane]

42. The question is why do some have such a problem with feminist points of view?

and work so hard to shut them down? I'll elaborate on Gollygee's post which I support whole heartedly. Arguments that feminists are trolls illustrates the idea that some on this site consider the only acceptable politics to be those framed from the point of view of white men. I find it particularly ironic that on a discussion board that is supposed to be geared toward Democrats--a party that is majority women and people of color---that some steadfastly insist on enforcing conservative world views of the sort articulated by Republicans. If you want a conception of politics that revolves entirely around white men, that's what the GOP is for. I for one and not going to sit back while some work to constrict Democratic discussion to increasingly reactionary points of view.

Here is a basic fact. Time is progressing. As offensive as some may find the concept, women and people of color are allowed to post about what interests them. You can ignore it if you don't want to hear about it. If you are going to post on a Democratic website, you will occasionally encounter some progressive points of view that consider the life experiences of someone besides yourself.

The notion that only the points of view of white men are acceptable is what has driven so many people of color off the site. Now the effort turns to silencing women who have the audacity to think their lives are worth anything. You of course can post about anything you want and carry out any efforts you want to restrict political discourse on this site, but don't for a second think think such efforts are anything but reactionary.

I for one fine it amazing that so many are completely impervious to all developments in higher education and intellectual discourse of the past 35 years, but clearly some work hard to block out all such influence. That is why the most basic concepts such a male privilege and white privilege can be met with hostility, or why concepts like intersectionality come as a revelation to some.

So the fact that some are pro-gun, anti-feminist, and anti-LGBT isn't particularly surprising. What is surprising is that they have the nerve to argue that articulation of Democratic views on a Democratic website called Democratic Underground amounts to trolling. I think people forget where they are, just as they forget which century they live in.

I will again post what supposedly launched this recent string of "gender war" posts. Redqueen posted this PSA in GD. A handful of members were furious and decided to take it as a personal attack on themselves. You'll have to ask them why they felt to compelled to create shit over it. That's something rational people have trouble understanding.

Issues like rape and domestic violence are not mere "semantics." They are about HUMAN RIGHTS, and constant efforts to trivialize those concerns show the low regard with which some take those rights. When certain members make a point of defending every accused rapist, attacking every rape victim, and insisting that the prisons are too crowded to keep rapists in prison, it tells me that they oppose my basic right to life, and that is something I take very seriously. That such a person pases himself off as a Democrat means nothing to me, since clearly my life means nothing to him. I get to decide who my friends and enemies are, and anyone who takes my right to basic safety as trivial is someone I have NOTHING in common with. I happen to know some Republicans far more progressive on gender issues than some who claim to be Democrats, just as there were Republicans in the 1960s more progressive than Orville Faubus and George C. Wallace.