Why is This Okay?

I think I need to stop reading the news. At least I need to stop reading up on the state of women's issues today. It's not that I don't care, because I do. I care so frigging much that it causes me physical pain sometimes, but I think I need to stop.

Today I came across a link at the bottom of The Mary Sue (awesome site btw, read it) that led to a story on The Jane Dough. What was this article you ask?

It was about Lee Aronsohn saying this:

“Enough ladies. I get it. You have periods… But we’re approaching peak vagina on television, the point of labia saturation.” The current female T.V. boom contrasts with “Two and a Half Men” portraying women as bimbos, something Aronsohn isn’t about to apologize for. “Screw it… we’re centering the show on two very damaged men. What makes men damaged? Sorry, it’s women. I never got my heart broken by a man.”

This is after last few months of Rush Limbaugh calling Sandra Fluke a "slut," Oklahoma starting down the road to passing a horrible bill, and the male dominated discussion of women and birth control.

One question keeps circling around in my mind: When did this become okay?

I thought there was a huge women's rights movement in the 1970's (and before that in the 1920's). I thought we were making strides. I guess I was wrong.

Before you say "Oh, they were making jokes. Have a sense of humor, gosh." I want you to do something for me. I want you to take this quote:

 "What makes men damaged? Sorry, it’s women.”

Remove the word women and replace it with any other group of people (try African-Americans, gays, or Jewish people just for a few). See how not okay that is?

So why is it okay to say things like that about women?

The simple answer is that it's not.

But when someone points out the wrongness of this the knee jerk reaction is 'get a sense of humor,' or 'stop being so PC about everything,' or (one I particularly hate) 'stop being such a bitch about it.'

Let me tell you something, I have a sense of humor. I am funnier than farts, prat falls, and dogs in hats put together (and humble too), but these 'jokes' aren't funny. At their best they show a lack of education about social issues, and at worst a blatant disregard for half the population. They are insidious, and have a whole culture on the internet (see the make me a sandwich meme).

Slight tangent, I can somewhat understand where it comes from on the internet (not that it makes it any more okay). It is easy when you are some faceless person on a computer to say inflammatory and degrading things, because who's going to call you on it? /Tangent

As for the whole PC thing, it's a cop out. All of the justifications are. They are ways from distracting from the fact that someone said something wrong, something offensive. If you can make the fact that some one was offended by something demeaning their fault you wont feel guilty, and that is a heck of a lot easier than changing the way you think or act.

One last thing. Before anyone accuses me of any liberal bias, let me point out that this is never okay from any part of the political spectrum. It was not okay when Bill Maher called Sarah Palin the C word just like it's not okay when Limbaugh called Fluke a slut. It's never okay, period.

So I want to know why this is not treated like a bigger issue. I want to know why no one is talking about stuff like this outside of a few feminist blogs.

Do we really live in a society now where we pat ourselves on the back for being the freest nation on Earth, but strip away the rights of women one by one? Do we want to live in a place where all women are good for is hurling insults at and making babies?

I don't, do you?