I try to pay little attention the rambling of pundits in the right-wing media, simply because I think they're too unremittingly dedicated to their views to be receptive to any kind of consciousness-raising... and on my end, I don't their media worth getting worked up about because I'm so admittedly unremittingly dedicated to my views.  I think it's best to laugh at the caricatures the far right makes of itself... but also to point out the fumbles in their media.  Exhibit A:  this article in the publication Human Events by conservative writer Dennis Prager.  His article, "Liberalism and Victimhood" questions the validity of a recent study that reports that 90% of girls experience sexual harassment.  He argues that this statistic is inflated because young women interpret too many things as "sexist" and because oppressed groups are too eager to point out oppression.  Let's break down this article:

...First, "The study found that girls who had a better understanding of feminism … were more likely to recognize sexual harassment."There is no question that this is true. Girls subjected to feminist indoctrination are undoubtedly more likely to interpret innocuous behavior as sexual harassment. Almost the entire liberal-left Weltanschauung is predicated on portraying every group in America except white, male, heterosexual Christians as oppressed. Women are oppressed by men. Blacks and Hispanics are oppressed by whites. Gays are oppressed by straights. Non-Christians are oppressed by Christians. 

Yes, this is true.  I'm pretty sure he's being sarcastic, but he's quoting power dynamics 101 nearly verbatim.  Both historically and now, men oppress women, whites oppress people of color, straight people oppress gay people, and Christians oppress non-Christians.  In fact, I'm pretty sure this is information that isn't even up for debate in the sociology community.  

 Second, "sexual harassment" is so all-inclusive as to be largely meaningless: "sexist comments about their academic abilities, sexist comments about their athletic abilities … unwanted romantic attention, demeaning gender-related comments, teasing based on their appearance, and unwanted physical contact." If a girl’s bra is snapped in elementary or high school; if a girl is told she should learn to throw a ball "like a guy does"; if a boy pursues a girl and fails in his pursuit -- these are all instances of sexism and sexual harassment.  

Again, I'm pretty sure he's being sarcastic, but he's right.  Those first two examples--bra-snapping and "throwing like a guy" are prime examples of harassment and sexism, respectively.  I'm not quite sure what he means about "a boy failing in his pursuit," but when you pair that with unwanted physical contact, I can't imagine that it's anything innocuous.  These are inexcusable... and hence why this study made the CBS Evening News with Kate Couric!

And third, "Latina and Asian American girls reported less sexual harassment than the other girls who participated in the study."  One wonders whether this is one reason increasing numbers of American men seek Latina and Asian American women for marriage. Women who have been less influenced by feminism probably appreciate men more.  

 WHOA!  Did he really just say that!?  Not only is that wildly racist and a sweeping generalization, but that just sounds s-t-u-p-i-d.  Really, let's look at that again:  "One wonders whether this is one reason increasing numbers of American men seek Latina and Asian American woman for marriage.  Women who have been less influenced by feminism probably appreciate men more." Okay, let's have a good laugh at that.  

As said, I don't think there is any reason for progressives to get worked up about this article, because although the article is anti-feminist, racist, old-fashioned, and homophobic (I can't believe he even questions that the gay community is oppressed), to me, this article reaffirms how grossly out of touch the far right is from the mainstream of Americans, who acknowledge that oppression--and sexual harassment--are an issue.  If this was an article in the mainstream media, I'd be really nervous about news consumers internalizing this article's messages--but because it's in Human Events, I think it's just another example of how the right wing alienates the mainstream of America.  After all, what women (especially urban women) would ever argue that sexual harassment isn't widespread, or even problematic?

Cross-posted from http://blogs.timesunion.com/lizfunk