DailyKos should immediately apologize for prominently placing in its recommended Open Thread and Diary Rescue section the hugely sexually offensive "Whip it Out (a private brief on Bill and Hillary)", submitted by kidneystones. The diary imagines at great length a non-consensual exploration of Hillary Clinton's vagina and ovaries. It is a pornographic and sexually abusive rant that targets an individual woman for a fantasized sexual invasion. By endorsing and giving this filth a prominent placement in the Open Thread and Diary Rescue, DailyKos has shown an amazing and uncharacteristic lack of editorial judgment and journalistic ethics.
This faux-humorous attempt sexual objectification and humiliation of a women reminds me of Judge Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings . . .
and the grossly unfunny sexually-harassing language that Anita Hill accused him of having used. Needless to say, if someone e-mailed such an offensive piece of sexual-oriented filth as this to a co-worker, he would be summarily terminated from his employment, lest the employer be liable for failing to punish an act of sexual harassment.
Yet, DailyKos recommends this voyeurism to its readers in its Diary Rescue, calling it "hilarious" and "funny as hell." These fantasied descriptions of Hillary Clinton's privates are no more funny than peeking through the keyhole and while your mother or daughter is taking a shower.
In kidneystones' diary, he imaginarily strips Senator Clinton's clothes from her and then puts her private parts on public display "in a museum". The diary is novel politically in that it intentionally objectifies, sexualizes and metaphorically rapes a Democratic woman candidate in a way that would never be permitted even in the MSN. What makes this diary different from the prurience of the Clinton impeachment hearings is that it imaginarily explores
Hillary Clinton's private parts, although nothing in her public behavior invites such an exploration. This is nothing but a rape and humiliation fantasy, masquerading as political satire. Although I cannot speak from a woman's perspective, I nonetheless empathize with what I suspect many women will feel when reading that diary: that "icky" feeling, like being raped or molested.
Certainly, DailyKos is a public forum where even the most offensive and reprehensible commentaries, including those that make gratuitously sexually-abusive personal attacks, are allowed alongside those that we find to be useful and worthwhile. But the endorsement given by DailyKos puts this blog in the position of sponsoring misogynistic ideas that it would certainly denounce if they appeared in another forum.
If you really see this as funny, then forget for a moment that the diarist targets Hillary Clinton (whom you dislike) and imagine he targets another valued Democratic woman candidate, such as Darcy Burner or Francine Busby. What will be the nature of our national discourse if this sort of rape-fantasy literature becomes acceptable and invades the public discourse? When you condone and sponsor the metaphorical, fantasized rape of one Democratic woman politician, you are unwittingly legitimizing such treatment for all of them. But, if your mother or sister runs for public office, will you still think this gratuitous discussion of female candidates' genitalia and ovaries is worthy of recommendation?
By recommending such writing in its Open Thread and Diary Rescue, DailyKos sullies its public voice and imperils its vital political role. For the sake of the medium, I think DailyKos owes its reading public, particularly the women in the audience, an immediate and public apology.