Are there women here who are not offended by the SI cover or Kate Upton's spread?

[BainsBane]

123. When did I say it was an "amen corner."

Is that what you call an environment that welcomes diversity rather than seeks to exclude? Those pictures were deliberately posted to provoke and mark territory. There is no doubt about that. People can believe what they want. I would like them to be honest about what it is they actually believe rather than pretending stuff they know seeks to exclude and promote hostility has any other purpose. There are some people on this site very uncomfortable with the progress of the past half century and express that discomfort in a variety of ways, often targeted against women and people of color. I know full well I can't force people to value equality and diversity. People will believe they want. But when they pretend liberalism involves deliberate disrespect and hostility to women and people of color, I am not going to stand quietly by. Reactionary is reactionary. It makes not one bit of difference which party a person claims they vote for. In fact, a number of these people have openly said they are not Democrats and do not intend to vote for Democrats.

There are always some people that go along with discrimination. That doesn't make it right. And the fact is Warren Stupidity's thread got 167 recs. The SI one got 22 and the Kate Upton one about 5. That is a clear difference, despite your anecdotal observations. More importantly, Skinner locked the Upton thread and told the GD hosts threads like that are not acceptable. Clearly he is not so keen on driving Democratic Party's major constituencies off this site. Think for a minute about how it's possible for a Democratic site to have so few African Americans? If you've ever canvassed an African American neighborhood, you know they are overwhelmingly Democratic, as polling data also shows. Yet many have been driven off this site. They have seen DU as hostile toward them. Do you think that truly serves the interests of Democrats? Do you think it wise to continue to support threads hostile to women as well?