Looking at that picture hit every button for me: the years when as a woman I felt powerless; the embarrassment I felt about my own body as a young girl because adolescent boys were clearly unable to contain their hormones and immaturity.  But I believed, I honestly believed people when they told me that that cr*p ended when we all matured.  And then I got to college and it was even worse because it was enhanced by alcohol at frat parties.

And that is what I saw in the picture.  The frat party mentality...the mentality I trashed George W and friends for.  But lo and behold that mentality is acceptable on the left too. I saw and read for months on the blogs, on MSNBC....the giggling men, the tittering, the jokes.  When I complained on blogs, same old, same old: "get over it, it's just a joke.....you old women are too sensitive."  And sadly it is the same now.  Overwhelmingly Favreau is being defended by the same old crowd of boys on the blogs.

There's nothing wrong with sitting around and tut tutting and whining about how unfair it is that Hillary would've been crucified if her head speech writer had done something like this.  What Favereau did was bad and she would've been crucified and that would've been unfair and yet another example of sexist treatment by the media in general and left-blogs in particular.

But sitting around with tounges clicking does look an awful lot like a bunch of tight-assed Missouri Synod Lutherans going on about how reprehensible it is that one of their neighbors cheated on his wife.  If it's so terrible it deserves to be addressed.  

in the privacy of his own mind, what was funny about it? What was he thinking? What was in his mind that he thought that was funny?

Been a while since you've been exposed to men between the ages of 12-25?

Give me a break. This isn't even close. There is no social or free speech issue here. This is a clown who doesn't know how to curb his lesser angels.

Sadly, the left collectively chose not to speak up against sexism when it was against Hillary, with only a vocal minority railing against it.

That vocal minority became significantly smaller when the new target of sexism was Sarah Palin.

BTD has been one of the only bloggers consistent on this.  Anglachel is another.  

And I'm thankful that you've linked to Shakesville, as their leadership on this issue was prominent and very necessary.   As Melissa there always clearly states, when sexism is acceptable against any woman, it's acceptable against every woman.

What I end up asking my self is this - forget that the behavior was exposed to the public - in the privacy of his own mind, what was funny about it? What was he thinking? What was in his mind that he thought that was funny?

When we spent months railing about the acceptance of the sexism and misogyny against women (Keith Olbermann's casual sexism and misogyny and the Left blogs acceptance of it comes to mind as well as the behavior of the boyz of the blogs generally) - this is what we mean. I wonder if anyone was shocked by Mr. Favreau's behavior. They should not have been.

***************

well, for one thing BTD...the people you mention, Keith O the boyz of the blogs, etc...those are some of the people...to answer your question...who think this photo is so funny...a riot...and anyway...anything goes when it is Hillary Clinton...

...over at the Confluence there are a number of photos with some other females head superimposed on that photo...and Bostomboomer and Dakinikat over there ask the question ...

'Are you offended now?"

they have superimposed MICHELLE OBAMA'S head, along with Caroline Kennedy, Rachel Maddow, Campbell Brown, Pelosi, McCaskill, etc...

He responded:

"This guy is saying Hillary is their b*tch now," and he asked, "what's she doing about it?".

I said, "nothing that I know of."

He said, "well then she agrees".

Funny how he held my position, without my influence.  Must be why we've been together for 20 years.

I truly believe the only person other than Obama who has the power to make this into what it should be -- a firing offense -- is Ms. Hillary Clinton.

That she isn't doing it, that she's putting up with it, sends a message that women should buck up and shut up.  This is a teaching moment, and she shouldn't ignore it, even if the good old boy's club does.

And I've heard the argument, well, her career would be over.

Martin Luther King did not hold political office.  Someone, at some point, needs to be the Martin Luther King for women.  Otherwise, it's all downhill from here.

I'm not blaming the victim here, I'm saying that by ignoring this at the highest levels of government, she's making all women victims.

But my sense when this happened was "Watch the story just die away..."  
As do many stories potentially harmful to Obama.

Have we seen that anything happened to Favreau as a result of this? Discipline even, never mind fired - can't imagine O would do that...

But I've not seen any further mainstream stories about this.

Amanda Marcotte has not mentioned it at all.

1. Thank you so much, BTD. It was lonely here the other night on this topic without you around.

2. Thank you to all the males here and elsewhere speaking out against this. So important and so appreciated and so heartening. Imagine where we'd be on racism if 99% of the white people were still denying it when it happens.

3. A big 'fu' to all the males who are either remaining silent about this or actively being sexism-deniers at every opportunity. Know that you're exactly the same on this issue as Rush Limbaugh. Part of the problem, not part of the solution.

4. On the issue of males of a certain age getting a pass on this kind of behavior, I don't think so. Zero tolerance policy for disrespecting or demeaning anyone anytime on the basis of their race, gender, religion, etc. in my house, and if my son (or daughter) engaged in that kind of behavior, I'd kick his @ss to the curb. Luckily, I wouldn't have to because he gets it and has always gotten it. Still, this kind of mindset is either tacitly encouraged or actively changed. One or the other.

5. Look at the picture again and mentally replace the faces of those boys with the faces of Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage. Fits perfectly, doesn't it? So, what does that say about Obamacrats?

Oh, and I wouldn't worry about his future: I'm sure he can find a job at MSNBC if Obama fires him.

If that is a sexist, well then he should be the posterboy for it, considering that there have been zero reports of his "sexism" toward living and breathing animate forms.

...how many "outraged" have given time..money..or other resources to your local shelter for battered women and their children...
Here in Denver these folks could use a donation

http://www.safehouse-denver.org/

I am sure..no matter where you live..there is something similar..

If something pisses you off..make a tangible effort to address it...or not....

Yesterday, we received another painful reminder of the serious economic challenge our country is facing when we learned that 533,000 jobs were lost in November alone, the single worst month of job loss in over three decades. That puts the total number of jobs lost in this recession at nearly 2 million.

But this isn't about numbers. It's about each of the families those numbers represent. It's about the rising unease and frustration that so many of you are feeling during this holiday season. Will you be able to put your kids through college? Will you be able to afford health care? Will you be able to retire with dignity and security? Will your job or your husband's job or your daughter's job be the next one cut?

As SusanG points out, "In a speech about universal fears and hardship, he is addressing his primary listeners as women." Not in the usual context of "women's issues" but as Susan puts it, "as legitimate, fully fledged and very concerned and invested breadwinners." A change for the better from the usual assumptions built into our language, and clearly the effect of a conscious effort to go beyond them.