Carrie Prejean's Sex Tape: Hypocrisy Doesn't Justify Sexism

So, apparently Carrie Prejean, the biblically-minded former Miss California who opposes marriage equality, may have a sex tape skeleton in her chastity closet.

Now I have absolutely no problem with calling people out for their hypocrisy (and if the tape actually exists, this seems like a case where that would apply), but some of the language being used against Prejean (primarily by commenters, rather than bloggers) veers into denigrating her for having had sex, or even simply for being female.

I don't care who you are, or how big of a jerk or a bigot, I'm not going to use language that is bigoted, sexist, racist, homophobic, etc., in criticizing you. And if other people are using that kind of language against you, I'm going to defend you against it, no matter who you are, or how horrific I find your beliefs, because that's how feminism works.

What is it going to take for people to realize that we can't end oppression by oppressing others, no matter how hateful they are?

Sexism and racism and homophobia and ableism and just about every other kind of oppression are so ingrained in our society that it's incredibly easy to jump to that as the first response when someone from a marginalized community does something reprehensible.

It's kind of like the way that people seem so obsessed with the race of the attackers and survivor of the Richmond High School gang rape. It doesn't matter what race they are, what matters is what happened. It doesn't make gang rape ok if the girl was from the same ethnic group as the attackers, or make it worse if she wasn't. It doesn't matter if the girl is a woman of color and the rapists are white. It makes no difference. The only way in which it matters is that someone from a marginalized group is more likely to be victimized, and less likely to be believed, less likely to have her case taken seriously. That is racism in action, people, and it happens every day.

So to everyone who is going to snicker in their sleeves about this (unverified) Carrie Prejean sex tape, just keep in mind that it doesn't matter that she's female, what matters is *if* she's a hypocrite. When the focus moves off, "Why does she care so much about what the Bible says about other people's sex lives, but not about what it says about her own?" it supports sexism.

Commentary that supports the idea that women shouldn't have sex, or enjoy sex, or be brazen enough to be filmed having sex, supports sexism. Commentary that calls her a bitch, whore, slut, cunt, etc., supports sexism.

Don't get caught in the "hierarchy of oppression" trap, normalizing oppression against anyone hurts everyone.

Comments

[twitter.com/FemiSex]

excellent post! We at FemiSex preach zero tolerance to sexism!
It is really a simple thing!