Feminists Slam Gawker For Publishing Anonymous O'Donnell Sex Story
The National Organization for Women has blasted an article written by an “anonymous” man about a “one night stand” he claimed to have had with conservative
NOW denounced the article as a “sexist” and “misogynist” attack, and criticized the website Gawker for publishing it.
“NOW repudiates Gawker's decision to run this piece,” said NOW president Terry O'Neill. “It operates as public sexual harassment. And like all sexual harassment, it targets not only O'Donnell, but all women contemplating stepping into the public sphere.”
The author of the Gawker article claimed he and O'Donnell hooked up after spending a booze-fueled Halloween evening together three years ago. Though the writer initially tried to remain anonymous, The Smoking Gun has since identified the man as Dustin Dominiak.
The descriptions of O'Donnell in the article were undeniably misogynistic. “When her underwear came off, I immediately noticed that the waxing trend had completely passed her by,” wrote Dominiak at one point. “Obviously, that was a big turnoff, and I quickly lost interest. I said goodnight, rolled over, and went to sleep.”
The author also bragged about how he “didn't even try to give her a kiss goodbye,” and complained that O'Donnell “didn't take a hint” that he lost interest in her after the hook-up, and kept trying to contact him afterward.
The article sparked an immediate outcry from people across the political spectrum, including self-described feminist writers like Talking Point Memo's Megan Carpentier, TBD's Amanda Hess, and AlterNet's Sarah Seltzer.
“Not only is this piece piggish, but it reveals nothing relevant about her politics or character,” wrote Tracy Clark-Flory at Salon.
At The Awl, Choire Sicha wrote that, “Today, we became hardline feminists all over again.”
But feminist outrage over the story wasn't universal. The liberal, women-centric website Jezebel (a sister-site of Gawker) featured a link to the article on its front page. The site quickly removed the link, and issued a half-hearted condemnation of the Gawker story. “[J]ust because she's a nutjob doesn't mean her third-base hookups matter,” wrote the Jezebel staff, in an editorial that spent more time mocking O'Donnell than criticizing Gawker.
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