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DK users and admins allowing misogyny and sexism [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-07-02
I remember a DKos where sexism was out of bounds and enforced by the community and the admins. It’s not that sexist comments never happened, but once upon a time I swear there was community pushback. A bunch of the community members who I could rely on to maintain standards have left over the years. The admins have changed as well. Maybe I’ve gotten sensitive in my older years. Maybe I’ve become more aware of the times when I failed to be a stronger ally for women, and belatedly want to make amends. So here’s a diary looking at the community standards here and how we are not respecting women as a community. Of course I expect to get flamed by defensive men, but that’s ok. No skin off my nose if you out yourselves here.
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-TRIGGER WARNING: This diary contains sexist comments and sexual imagery posted on DK which may be upsetting to read or see.
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The following is a series of comments posted during the last 12 months (the farthest back you can search). Every single one of these comments is demeaning to women. I’m not linking to the commenter because I’m less interested in enforcement in the past or a public tribunal, and more interested in fixing this problem across the board. If you really want to verify these comments they are easily found with the search tools. Please refrain from turning this into a callout or vendetta against an individual, that really is not the important point. The point it that this community and leadership that need to live up to our stated ideals. I’m calling out all of us men, for our reaction to this individual.
Let me emphasize: I specifically want to call out MEN right here. It should not the job of women on this site to police the sexism of men. It is primarily MEN who need to step up and be allies, and also just be decent human beings. That means:
reporting this stuff to the Help Desk
flagging comments
calling out this misogyny in real time
Without further ado, some real gems:
I'm talking about Pam, the bimbo, you know. (1 rec)
"Tie Pam Bondage to Lady Justice's totem pole!" (2 recs)
"This deranged man sure knows to employ bimbos" (2 recs)
"Nepo bimbo." (1 rec)
"It's much better to open the female pop group Pandora's Box." (0 recs)
"Mar-a-Lago looks like a vagina from above." (1 rec)
"I can imagine Pete Hogmeth drinking a bottle of Jack Daniel's and grabbing Melania Trump and Usha Vance by their pussies." (3 recs)
"The Bimbo and the Demented." (5 recs)
" I don't think Trump has bigger jugs than Dolly Parton. She is a 36DD " (1 rec)
"A rock bimbo is a woman who thinks Ted Nugent should be sworn into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. 😆" (2 recs)
That’s just a subset from one user this year.
The following DKos hosted images were posted, recommended, and remain on public display in recent comments. Sunlight being the best disinfectant, here they are along with the caption that was included in the original comment to describe each photo:
“I'd like to eat this woman's dress.” (2 recs)
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And give her this Avocado Bra.” (1 rec)
“WHITE WOMEN FOR KAMALA HARRIS”(2 recs)
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“Catwoman sitting on a custom-made litter box.” (15 recs)
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“Woman wearing a bacon and eggs skirt. I imagine she's a teacher and a Demicrat.” (5 recs)
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NONE of these have anything to do with electing more and better Democrats. I honestly have no idea why the commenter would be inspired to make or share any of these, especially here on DKos. What I do know is that these posts are inappropriate and demeaning. Our community did not hide rate these and did not push back at all. This reminds me of the saying about having a Nazi at the dinner table. If men here are not actively pushing back against misogyny, well...
The Rules of the Road are crystal clear that sexist/gender based bigotry is disallowed:
(Do Not) Use bigoted language in stories or comments. This includes but is not limited to slurs, stereotypes, and demeaning insults regarding race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexuality, religion, age, class, locality, country or culture of origin, physical appearance, and physical or mental ability.
The next major problem is that admins have taken no action. Not at the moment these were published, nor after being informed about them. Help Desk is “looking into it”, but how is there any possible course of action but to delete these posts with vigor?
Why, when informed about this content, would the admins here just let it slide? One possible conclusion is that the misogyny and rot exist at the admin level. Rules are only helpful if the enforcement wing actually cares to enforce them. When a notice of gender based bigotry lands at the Help Desk, would it help to make sure to run the content past at least one of the women on staff? Maybe uploaded images need to be vetted, even if by AI?
Have we drifted into a place where this type of discourse is accepted? Are others as disappointed by this as I am? Is this still a community where women are welcome to participate and are respected?
We MEN and the site admins need to do better if we intend to be a liberal or progressive community. Respecting women should be the bare minimum requirement. How many times this century have we relied on women’s votes to propel Democrats to victory? Every goddamn time, that’s how many.
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