the great pie fiasco.

kos can't take criticism to save his life - and yet he's done shoved his size twenny shoe in his size sixteen mouth agin. (note to observant reader: yes, both is big for said part, but you know what they say about men with big feet and men with a big mouth? they trip a lot, either their own words or their own steps.)

this time, kos's managed to infuriate 90% of the female kossacks and a very large number of people who have only occasionally visited the daily kos.

here's the deal: TBS runs this offensive ad for their new "reality" show, which is the incredibly horrific the real gilligan's island. the ad - which has two versions, one of which is 'mature' in content - is visible here, but i'll give you the scoop: the show's maryanne and ginger stage a pornorific pie fight and wet t-shirt contest, wrestling in a highly suggestive if clearly acted T&A fest of remarkable proportions. the intended sexual contact is very high and voyeuristic, but as a lesbian i can honestly tell you those two are breeders if anyone is - there's zero sexual spark happening there. in short, it's the scene in the straight porn when the two straight women are waiting for the male lead to show up to show them what a good time really is. (you, the viewer, are supposed to imagine yourself as said person, see?)

anyway, some feminists, presumed by all to be women but i don't know that's necessarily true, took great umbrage at their progressive site running egregious T&A ads in the sidebar. and kos' brilliant response?

So over the weekend, certain segments of the community have erupted in anger over the TBS ad for their reality show, the Real Gilligan's Island. Apparently, having two women throw pies at each other, wrestle each other in a sexy, lesbianic manner, then having water splashed on their ample, fake bosoms is degrading to women. Or something like that.

Whatever. Feel free to be offended. I find such humorless, knee-jerk reactions, to be tedious at best, sanctimonious and arrogant at worst. I don't care for such sanctimony from Joe Lieberman, I don't care for it from anyone else. Some people find such content offensive. Some people find it arousing. Some people find it funny. To each his or her own.

But I am not Lieberman. I won't sit there and judge pop culture and act as gatekeeper to what I think is "appropriate", and what isn't.

And I certainly won't let the sanctimonious women's studies set play that role on this site. Feel free to be offended. Feel free to claim that I'm somehow abandoning "progressive principles" by running the ad. It's a free country. Feel free to storm off in a huff. Other deserving bloggers could use the patronage.

Me, I'll focus on the important shit.

p.s. And congratulations -- the more people have bitched about the ad, the more successful it has become. It is now the most successful ad in the history of this site, with close to 8,000 click throughs over the low-traffic weekend. And, now that you have demanded I respond to the ad, thousands more will click through to see what the big deal is all about.

Sometimes, the best way to kill something you disagree with is to ignore it.

Update: Hmm, after considering the early feedback, it seems most people didn't have a problem with the ad, but had a huge problem with my sweeping generalization of the "women's studies set".

It's a fair critique, and duly noted. I stand by everything else written, which is offensive enough to some people as is. But I honestly didn't mean to smear anyone who has ever taken a women's studies course, or majored or minored or gotten an advance degree in it. Just what is, to me, a small, extremist set looking for signs of female subjugation under every rock. So yeah, a poor choice of words that cast the net far too wide to cover the people that have, in fact, pissed me off.

Sorry about that, but not sorry about my broader point -- that being sanctimonious about this ad is no different than the sanctimony we decry from people like Lieberman, Dobson, and the Family Values Coalition.

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wow. that's, um, wow. some people have more intelligent things to say about this than i can muster: i recommend the ever-insightful echidne of the snakes (very excellent), creek running north's sweet riff (replacing "latino" for "woman"), pandagon's comments and finally but especially feministe.

in related news, some feminist kossacks have also decided to organise a site because women are being ignored (as usual) by the democrats and kos: women kossacks is new but maybe it'll take off. i hope it does.