Final Thoughts on WhinerGate

In true Todd fashion, so-called “Babe-gate” has gotten sensationalized and way out of control. And I’m just going to say it: if Todd would have actually taken a second to assess why it was that his fellow “lefties” had taken issue with him and his latest string of posts in the first place, rather than dramatize it all by continuing to throw absurd fuel on the ‘fire,’ it’s likely that this whole debacle could have been minimized or avoided all together.

Having a “Babe of the Day” in and of itself is just plain sexism. There’s no other way to cut it. And when that “Babe of the Day” becomes a credit to varied women for reasons that are false, ridiculous, or don’t exist at all (On Brook White, Epp stated “I don't know a thing about Brooke White other than she has a clean, simple, wholesome, girl next door look”) demands being called out for more than just simple, spottable sexism and that’s to be expected. If DakotaWomen suddenly started a “Stud of the Day” and featured the likes of Vin Diesel, Scott Heidepriem, or even Todd Epp himself :), we would without a doubt be questioned, called out, and likely called something worse than what we’ve been called in the past…and rightfully so. After all, this is the political blogosphere, right? And it’s disgusting that anyone, let alone one of the self-professed blogo-LIBERALS would even go there, let alone try to legitimate it at all by talks about traffic or worse, playing the victim card.

Todd did this to himself. He’s no victim.

This isn’t the first time that Todd has landed himself in a contradiction where he professes being progressive, a women’s rights supporter, a feminist, or similar title, while writing something via his blog that supports the opposite side of the claim. Many of us here have gone head to head with him and tried to explain the perhaps ungraspable reality of how it’s legit to expect more from people like Todd Epp than, say, Steve Hickey. This would be the same if Madville Times suddenly went “Girls Gone Wild” on us, but we know that would never happen. It sure seems that these days Todd is more interested in sparring with his allies and befriending the un-befriendable than having any real discussion that would lend itself to any amount of progress.

And just to clarify: I used Shannon Stevens as a good, bad example to illustrate how confused and off base Todd often is and I stand by it. But that’s not the only example of Todd’s randomly selective accolades to SD Women, which as Anna pointed out, seem too often to center not on what a woman does, but how she looks doing it. That, my friends, is just despicable and coming from someone of Todd’s position and experience, even more so. We should all demand accountability when a progressive blogger, politician, or non-profit’s staff person doesn’t put their money where there mouth is at the expense of the entire progressive movement or worse, women’s access to healthcare through the reality of what is public policy formation in the US.

I invite Todd to stop starting fires and start being real with himself and others. If he’s a pig, he should unapologetically be a pig. Need lessons? I’m sure SouthDacola can provide them. And if he truly values women in a non-objectification way, then let’s see it.