Still haven't got to watch the video (stoopid work) but what you said about: "our society that breeds and encourages this kind of self-congratulatory disconnection with reality" seems to be right on the mark. I also like Hepola's insight on a world where people are so focused on their own experiences that they forget that they share the world with others. There is a remarkable lack of empathy and understanding in our nation today.

There is a distinct line between being sexually liberated, owning one's body, being open to new experiences/partners, and lacking shame when experiencing pleasure, and the violent language that the women on Jezebel.com spewed.

Rape is a violent, controlling, demented act that has no place in a conversation about sex. It is not sex, but rather an act that abuses sex as a weapon.

Personally, I respect the members of that particular audience for taking the high road, and not charging the stage screaming, "It's women like you that ruin the word "feminist!" Women like you keep women from reporting rape out of fear! Women like you make women consciously or unconsciously wonder if they brought on that violence themselves, and are living with a societal branding of self hatred! You make me sick!" So, I'm sorry AnnieScott and others had to experience that display of anti-woman rhetoric. But reading stories like these reignite our desire to rise above, and seek a peaceful, equitable, and just downright better world for the women yet to come.

*shudder*

My friend Jess asked, "Was there any sign that they were being ironic at all?" I thought about it for a moment, just to be fair. And then I said, "No."

Maybe they were. Only they can say. But gee, I don't know, maybe rape isn't something to try be funny about.

I'm glad you posted about this Annie. Jezebel's writers have evolved into the poster children for modern feminism, and it was embarrassing to watch them be so careless with that reputation.

tracie egan is a pig. ask some of the people who have been on the receiving end of her unwarranted nastiness. she's got nothing to do with feminism; she is about herself, and nothing else. she understands feminism about as much as she understands anything else outside her narrow purview. her display on the show was nothing more than tracie, as she is. she's a pig.

I'm surprised to see a post like this on Styledash -- but not unpleasantly. Big love for you guys. :)

I don't know the Jezebel writers, and I tend to enjoy it as a site. However... this kind of thing happens more often than you'd think, just not so publicly and not with such well-known participants.

I have found that what Hepola says about disconnection (maybe it's even a kind of solipsism) is common in feminist communities, possibly because of the general watchword that "the personal is political" -- which I think is often played out pretty poorly, because we're all still just people with issues and personalities and hang-ups, not perfect political machines.