Are the Recent Cries About Misogyny Warranted?

Article here. Excerpt:

'But not every crude and hateful slam at a woman is misogynist; sometimes, it's just crude and hateful. An anatomical epithet toward a woman is not automatically worse than the male equivalent. Calling a female politician a bitch is not automatically worse than calling a male politician a scumbag, an overwhelmingly male-directed slur. Rocker and right-wing activist Ted Nugent's invitation to Hillary Clinton to "ride one of these into the sunset" while brandishing two rifles at a 2007 concert was no more disgusting than his simultaneous invitation to Barack Obama to "suck on this" (and there's no reason to think that Nugent would have been kinder to a top Democratic presidential contender who was male and white).

Nor are male politicians immune to sexual denigration. After Rick Santorum angered gay activists with negative comments about homosexuality, he was targeted for an Internet campaign promoting the use of his last name as an obscene sex-related term. Print ads seeking dirt on Rick Perry were run not only by Flynt but by Ron Paul supporter Robert Morrow. (Imagine the shrieks if a respectable newspaper had run an ad asking, "Have you ever had sex with Sarah Palin?")

In the 21st century, women may not have yet reached parity in public life. But they are clearly no longer outsiders. If their gender can still be an obstacle, it can also be an asset: a source of extra star power as well as extra voter sympathy. They have come far enough to not be treated as especially vulnerable, an expectation that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.'