Question of the Day-Is It Demeaning To Women To Order Them To 'Get On Your Knees And Bark Like A Dog

[babylonsister]

Question of the Day: Is It Demeaning To Women To Order Them To 'Get On Your Knees And Bark Like A Dog?'
By Susie Madrak
Video at link~


You know, Linda, I believe in the First Amendment, too. (If I can put up with Fred Phelps, I can put up with anything.) But it's a tad disingenuous to pretend that this type of WWE programming isn't specifically aimed at demeaning women for a certain appreciative segment of the viewers. That's how you made your money, after all!

And it raises what would be a much better question than the one asked by Armenpour: If you would do this because it made money, what wouldn't you do for money? Where, exactly, is that line? Because as you know, U.S. Senators have quite a lot of power and you should answer that question.

But let's not ignore the sheer entertainment value of this question, either. Our national politics have deteriorated to the point where we're asking a candidate for the U.S. Senate if an S&M theme is suitable family entertainment:

AMANPOUR: They say a vote for Linda McMahon is a slap in the face for Connecticut women. the whole issue of the women in the ring and what they call degrading and demeaning behavior towards women. I'm a woman, you're a woman --

MCMAHON: Yes

AMANPOUR: What do you really think when you see some of that go on in the ring? The girl who is told to get on all fours, I think by your own husband and bark like a dog? Are you comfortable with that?

MCMAHON: Well WWE programming has changed from being TV14 over the years, which that's the time you were talking about, it was called the Attitude Era, into now being PG, rated by the networks as PG. I'm happy with the content today.

AMANPOUR: As a senator if you could stop it would you stop that kind of depiction against women on -- on the public airwaves? Would you at least lobby or campaign against it?

MCMAHON: I do believe in the first amendment rights and content --

AMANPOUR: So, you don't think there's anything wrong with it?

MCMAHON: Well, content providers are clearly creating scenarios-- from an entertainment point of view, I think that you either elect to go to a movie or you elect to watch a program so, I'm a strong proponent for first amendment rights. At the same time, at WWE, women really are powerful women and the programming content, as I've said, has changed from TV14 to TVPG. I much prefer it today.

Here's the entire WWE clip (at link)...

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/question-day-it-demeaning-women-order

[kratos12]

1. I think

it moved.

[Gin]

2. she should be put in a ring....asked to get on all fours and bark like a dog

and see if it feels demeaning...

[itsrobert]

3. No, as long as it is part of a high school dance

:sarcasm:

[seabeyond]

6. true that. girls get on all four and have guy simulate a fuck, tap shoulder, next....

at least she doesnt have to bark like a dog.

good ole du

lmao

[Edweird]

4. 1. The WWE is entertainment.

I can't stand it, but it clearly has fans. It has about as much bearing and influence on reality as the 'Weekly World News'.
2. I have had women *ASK* me to call them degrading and racist things during sex - the most extreme being my ex-wife. Things that made me uncomfortable and that's saying a lot.

In conclusion: Meh.

[Hello_Kitty]

5. Your second statement contradicts the first

You say those themes have little to do with reality and then recount how partners of yours have wanted you to call them degrading names during sex. It does show how people are internalizing certain media tropes to the extent that they must incorporate them into their own sex lives.

[seabeyond]

7. not to mention the first part... meh, the second terming it degrading and he being uncomfortable

in all ways, contradicts his whole meh.

[Edweird]

15. Nope.

I'm not saying it all makes me uncomfortable, I'm saying my ex-wife was so over the top that some of what she wanted was a bit too much even for me. That is a lot considering that I worked in the fetish industry for 10 years (part time weekend gig once or twice a month) and I have become desensitized. I've seen it all - twice and done most of it at least once.

[Edweird]

13. No, they don't.

There are plenty of men out there that enjoy being denigrated sexually. Tell me where they are 'internalizing' that from. Here's a clue: TV doesn't make you kinky.

[Hello_Kitty]

32. That doesn't rebut my point

People get their particular personal sexual imprint from a lot of sources, the media being one of them.

[Edweird]

34. Lulz. You and Rev. Falwell can boycott Teletubbies.

What the McMahons were doing was 'art' (and I'm using that term very loosely) imitating life, not the other way around. In fact it was more of a parody akin to Reno 911 being representative of professional law enforcement. Watching some low rent 'wrestling' dreck isn't going to turn a bunch of people into sexual sadists any more than Teletubbies will make you gay.
ZOMG! Aren't 'professional wrestling' and UFC basically gay porn? OH NOES!!11!!!1 Won't SOMEBODY please think of the CHILDREN!

[Hello_Kitty]

40. Pro wrestling magnifies and perpetuates gender stereotypes, as do many other forms of entertainment

No one is singling it out.

And being gay is innate. Now, how a gay person expresses her/his sexuality can be influenced by a variety of inputs, as with straight people. Your evoking of Falwell and the Teletubbies "controversy" is irrelevant. Falwell was as enamored of rigid heteronormative gender stereotypes as the creators of WWE.

[Warren DeMontague]

43. I'm sure that if the consumers of pro wrestling were presented with a deconstructive analysis

of self-reinforcing patriarchal norms and male gaze 'othering', offered in a consciousness raising confrontational format designed to challenge rigidly adhered to gender constructs in the context of not only patriarchal European phallocentric colonialism but also presented with a dialectical materialist component of class and gender consciousness, they would immediately demand that their entertainment forms be more attuned to the proper and rightful use of so-called "free speech" under the 1st amendment, which is not to perpetuate oppressive power dynamics but solely to foster and support the class and gender struggles of all oppressed groups and peoples.




...




...


Or, they would look at you, and go... "Huh? Whut?"

[Warren DeMontague]

48. You're not talking about the expression of the sexuality. You're saying the desire is "imprinted".

You're suggesting that people LIKE certain things -they are turned on by certain things- because they are influenced by the media. That's the exact same thing the religious right crusaders are saying.

[Edweird]

35. That makes Jerry Springer like, the worst thing ever, LOL

[Warren DeMontague]

47. So, you're saying, human sexuality is innately programmable? "Hackable", even?

Isn't that the same thing that these groups are saying?

http://gaylife.about.com/od/religion/i/ex_gay.htm


Or is it just, oh, maybe heterosexual male sexuality that alone is somehow open-source enough to be subject to the whims of media-driven imprinting and the like?

[JerseygirlCT]

51. It's entertainment, but holding the producer of such entertainment

to responsibility for it is important. That doesn't impinge on anyone's first amendment rights, and it's what a responsible public would and should do.

She made a choice to own a company that produced that sort of dreck. I think the people of my state ought to be questioning that choice, and how it reflects on other choices she might make.

[David Zephyr]

8. K&R.

!

[femrap]

9. When some women

tells a boy (in speedos) in the ring to get down on his knees and meow like a cat, maybe equality will be right around the corner. Why aren't the men demeaned? Why aren't they ridiculed?

Wouldn't have anything to do with this invisible aura of patriarchy, would it?

I can't believe this is all returning....it's like the Women's Movement never happened.

How much further can our culture fall?

Does this woman have much of a chance of winning?

[babylonsister]

10. They were about tied recently; I don't know where they are now. nt

[itsrobert]

11. I guess you don't watch much wrestling

All sorts of demeaning stuff goes on. And it's not limited to one sex.

[femrap]

27. If there is

some dude in speedos on his knees mewing like a kitty as told to do so by a woman standing over him....

I would bet the farm this type of debasement hasn't occurred. The men in the audience would riot.

[Warren DeMontague]

45. Wrestling is all about crazy people adopting these over-the-top, fake identities.

It's not my bag, but apparently some people do it all the time.

[seabeyond]

14. this is the "new" feminist movement. embrace all this, empowering. nt

[femrap]

26. I believe this 'new'

movement was begun by the boyz who like to make women think that stilettos, cleavage, pron, and putting it all out there gives women some twisted sense of power. The 'Fun Sexee Feminism' isn't all that empowering.

I like the Old Women's Libber Movement where being oneself was enough.

[seabeyond]

29. +1. nt

[Mad_Dem_X]

53. +1,000

Give me the "old" Women's Lib any day over this!

[femrap]

54. Thanks....

I'm so used to getting nasty comments. Your comment was a welcome surprise.

[Sisaruus]

16. I worry that she will win.

She's a nasty campaigner. Think WWE in a business suit. Is putting $50 million of her own money into the campaign. The Connecticut airwaves are almost all her ads and there's not a single day that there isn't another glossy direct mail piece in my mailbox. She must be singularly responsible for massive deforestation of some country.

If you've got a few dollars to spare, Blumenthal could use some support.
http://richardblumenthal.com/

[CTyankee]

18. Her opponent, Dick Blumenthal, leads by 10 points right now.

He's a good guy and very pro woman and pro choice. Also pro consumer and pro environmentalist, so naturally the thugs hate him!

What I tell my repug friends about MacMahon: she does not share my traditional family values! Eat THAT, thugs!

[babylonsister]

19. That's great news, CTyankee, thanks! I take it the debate didn't

help? I heard/read she was awful.

[CTyankee]

21. She was nasty and Dick was a Happy Warrior. She was negative and he talked about

his achievements for the people of CT.

I am apoplectic about MacMahon right now. I'd best not get myself in a rage again...needless to say I would NEVER pimp out one of my 2 daughters or 3 granddaughters the way MacMahon did her daughter on WWE! What a disgrace this woman is to our state!

[femrap]

20. Good quote.

I hope Dick increases his lead and wins by a landslide!

[CTyankee]

22. please god...

[femrap]

30. Looks like I'm going

to be stuck with a repugnant, Portman, representing my state. He was W's Trade Rep....sent tons of jobs overseas yet Ohioans, who lost their jobs, are supporting him. It's sick.

I don't know what happened to Ohioans....maybe all the smart ones left the state???

[SwampG8r]

46. im reading this and

it made me laugh
in the 90s i worked a job with a guy who loved to bet
he bet on anything and he would bet crazy stakes
once he bet me 100 bucks over something and i lost
i didnt lose 100 bucks tho
the bet was i had to take a cat pose and go "meow meow meow" whenever he said "hit it" and pointed at me for a week
since we had no social interaction i took the bet because we only saw each other at work and there it would not be strange
for 5 days it went as i predicted
on day 6 i went to the grocery with my wife and kids
and there he was in the frozen foods
i leave the rest to your imagination

[blondeatlast]

12. Hypocrisy, thy name is ReBPublican candidates. You're a damn poor example, Linda,

and I'd have at least some respect for you if you hadn't dodged the question.

Here's an idea, you get on all fours in a bikini and convince us why we should vote for you.

[lunasun]

37. Perfect for their party- what a cartoon of a ReBPug - what trash values eom

[Sisaruus]

17. She named her yacht "Sexy Bitch"

[Kalyke]

23. So half the boat was named after her.

Who'd she name the "sexy" part after?

:rofl:

[babylonsister]

24. Ha! +1. nt

[seabeyond]

25. the girl barking like a dog? or maybe the sexy bitch IS the girl barking like a dog

and has nothing to do with her

or

maybe the game her hubby and her play is "sexy bitch" were she barks like a dog

[Motown_Johnny]

28. why does she think it is a first amendment issue? She wasn't asked about the government limiting

woman wrestlers getting down on all fours and barking like a dog.

[JerseygirlCT]

52. That seems to be the new excuse anytime someone doesn't want to be

held to account for something they've said or done.

[felix_numinous]

31. Here's a clue-

the degradation of one group by another is legal, but it does irreparable damage to the causes of freedom and liberty. We deny the psychological effects of accepting masochism in society under the guise of freedom, and this blindness paves the way for sociopathic people to hide in plain sight. To call attention to this nuance is to be labeled a prude, but the point of distinction between freedom and abuse is at the very core of what distinguishes a progressive society from a repressive one.

[iamtechus]

33. No worse than getting drop-kicked and body-slammed

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ghost in the Machine]

49. You do realize that wrestling isn't real.. right? Wrestling is extreme tumbling & gymnastics...

... on steroids! It's also very scripted and it's all an act. It's a soap opera. That woman wasn't actually forced to get on all fours and bark like a dog..

:hi:

[lunasun]

36. Our perfect Idiocracy is almost formed - maybe by 2012

WWE will still b there that is for sure

[riderinthestorm]

39. If Linda McMahon isn't prepared to go out in a WWE wrestling ring

in a bikini, barking and crawling, right fucking now - then she has no business deciding what's degrading for anyone.

If she believes that the women in WWE are "really powerful women", then by god she should stand by her principles of being a "really powerful" woman and show us what she's got in demonstration of her "power".






(walks off shaking her head in disgust at libertarian/rethug contortions of logic....)

[seabeyond]

41. seems to be a theme men like women to perform. hooter gals eating off plate like a dog

and the gals actually perform for these men for the male entertainment.

[Vidar]

42. Wrestling--how mundane! I was hoping for a BDSM thread.

[Warren DeMontague]

44. No more sex threads.

Just don't stop masturbating, or Christine O'Donnell wins.

[Scurrilous]

50. K & R

:thumbsup: