Blogger "Dennis the Peasant""I didn't know you were called Dennis."
"Well, you didn't bother to find out, did you?"
Evidently a rather large proportion of those wimmen calling themselves feminists are genuine morons.
This point is amply illustrated by the illustrations used by Seal Press in Amanda Marcotte's utterly dreadful tome, It's A Jungle Out There.
You remember Amanda Marcotte, don't you? She was the John Edwards campaign's house blogger, the one who got shoved out the door for her tacky anti-Catholic rantings.
Prior to having canine dental surgery performed upon it, one of the first things that struck me about It's A Jungle Out There was the fact that the artwork was, in and of itself, a ticking time bomb. As your basic insensitive, insecure, capitalistic, patriarchy embracing, steeped in white male privilege white male, I couldn't help notice that several of the illustrations seemed to be unsuited for the sensitive, multicultural, racially inclusive and proudly progressive eyes of Amanda's intended audience.
In keeping with the obvious, unoriginal and trite nature of Marcotte's writings, her publisher, Seal Press, decided to illustrate the book using a White Amazon Woman (and White Male Hunter) motif rendered in a faux-1950s Marvel Comics style. Unfortunately, neither Amanda Marcotte nor anybody at Seal Press seemed to grasp that they were dealing with an exceptionally touchy cadre of readers. This Marcotte/Seal cluelessness is doubly amazing when you consider that the original cover art for the book was scrapped last year due to blogospheric outrage (at Pandagon, of all places) over its obvious, if subtle, racist imageryÂ…
You'd think, given that little episode, that both Amanda and the grrrls at Seal Press would have their multicultural antennae in the wind to ensure that nothing about the new artwork could be remotely considered racist. Well, that's what you'd think. What actually ended up in It's A Jungle Out There was this:
Illustrations at the link--and yeah, they're the sort of stuff that'll get you branded as racist in today's PC environment: bosomy, well-proportioned blonde white girl beating the snot out of dark-skinned witch doctors.
Amanda has issued an abject apology over at Pandagon:
IÂ’m sorry. Plain and simple. I didnÂ’t pick the offensive imagery in my book, but I should have caught it sooner than now. I didnÂ’t and thereÂ’s no excuse. It was my first book, I was excited and happy, but I needed to have a more critical eye. I would do anything to remove racist images from the first printing of the book if I could, and I am relieved and happy to say that they will be removed from future printings. Seal Press has their note of apology up too, and they accept full responsibility for these mistakes. I really recommend reading it.
Amanda's apology goes on for another two paragraphs, and while she does try to weasel out of trouble by blaming Seal Press, it's clear her heart isn't into it. It's almost as if she's sitting there going, "Just what did I do to irritate the Negroes?"
On the other hand, Seal Press, which describes itself as "Â…devoted to publishing titles that inform, reveal, engage, delight, and support women of all ages and backgroundsÂ…" is in full sacrifice-a-virgin-to-appease-the-angry-Gods supplication mode:
We are taking action immediately to remove the offensive images from It's A Jungle Out There. We are currently reprinting, and we will make these changes now. We apologize for any pain or concern these images have caused.
We do not believe it is appropriate for a book about feminism, albeit a book of humor, to have any images or illustrations that are offensive to anyone. . . .
As an organization, we need to look seriously at the effects of white privilege. We will be looking for anti-racist trainings offered here in the Bay Area. [my emphasis - DTP] We want to incorporate race analysis into our work.
AttaboyÂ… er, Attagrrrl! When in doubt, call in the diversity trainers! . . .
Given that Amanda Marcotte believes in this sort of crap, the fact that she couldn't figure out that illustrating her book with threatening Mau-Mau warriors might give offense is little more than astonishing. Beyond that, it's fun to note that these folks - both the white privileged feminist bloggers and the controlled by racism Radical Women of Color - can't understand why nobody in the real world pays the slightest bit of attention to themÂ…