Attention all women and men who find this offensive

[proud2BlibKansan]

http://www.surrendermartha.com/

This is an ad on DU's homepage. There is another thread discussing the offensiveness of these t-shirts.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x3729536

I am proposing that all who find this advertiser's products offensive and inappropriate for DU make a contribution so our admins do not need to raise money from sponsors of offensive products.

Who is with me on this?

[blondeatlast]

1. Sorry--not until they pull the sponsor.

Then, and only then, will I offer another donation.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. That works for me

How much do they get from these sponsors? How long would it take us to contribute that much?

[benburch]

2. Well...

We would need to know how much would need to be raised to eliminate all ads, right?

And we cannot know this unless you can get the Admins to say how much that would be.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Do you think we need to ask that all ads be eliminated?

I was thinking just this one cause those t-shirts are gross.

[intheflow]

9. Not all ads. Just the offensive t-shirt one. And yes,

I would give an additional gift if the Admins told us how much we had to raise to make up for their advertising loss of this one ad.

[benburch]

19. Well, the ideal solution would be a DU that did not have to accept ads.

When you don't have to take ads, you are beholding to nobody.

[ismnotwasm]

5. Oh, Oh, I just noticed that 'curse' one

The back says "they just sucked for 85 years" Is that referring to the Kennedy family? So not only are most of them are misogynist trash, but right wing misogynist trash? Bad ju-ju for a progressive board to be sure

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. I couldn't get past the ones about hos and

fucking women. Those are enough for me.

[Bunny]

11. Oh, but it won't be the anti-female stuff that causes the ad to get

pulled. If anything, it'll be the Gitmo t-shirts, the anti-Kennedy stuff, etc. See, it's okay to denigrate women here. Apparently.

[ismnotwasm]

27. Yup

I agree. The right wing part will get it pulled quicker than the misogyny. I was just shocked the obvious rw stuff(if that's what it is) was ever allowed as advertising. I was guilty of not donating last fundraiser, (broke) but I will make a donation to make up for the loss of this crap. I'd rather be broke than to see this on DU

[Redstone]

52. Oh, bullshit. If you read through this and the other thread,

you'll find plenty of people, including men, who don't like the misogynistic stuff.

You're accusing a lot of DU men of being something they're not. And that's bad manners, besides being untrue.

Enough. please.

Redstone

[GalleryGod]

70. Well said, Red ! One Philly Cheesesteak Comin' Up!

:yourock:

[Redstone]

74. Lettuce, tomatoes, and mayo, please.

No hot peppers.

I thank you. My arteries thank you.

Redstone

[Bunny]

75. You know, I've had enough myself, Redstone.

I actually DID read these threads, thank you very much. Please don't accuse me of not doing something. I've read enough shit from SOME of the "men" of DU this past week to last me a lifetime, frankly. Enough, indeed.

I see that Skinner has removed the ad - that was a good idea.

[liontamer]

15. i figured it was about the red sox

:shrug: I'm not sure how long the streak lasted though

[latebloomer]

26. I'm sure you're right n/t

[GiovanniC]

24. That's a Baseball Thing

Curse of the Bambino.

Saying there was no curse, that the Sox just sucked all this time.

[ismnotwasm]

37. Not sports savvy at all

But all of it seemed so right wingish to me, so that's the first conclusion I jumped to. But baseball makes more sense

[gmoney]

34. No, they're referring to the Red Sox.

I thought that one was actually kind of funny...

[Wilber_Stool]

46. I think they were talking about

the Red Sox.

[MrSandman]

88. Red Sox?....nt

[BikeWriter]

7. This should be communicated directly to the Admins...

instead of posted here.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Some DUers have done just that

So I would like to propose that anyone else who finds this crap offensive to also communicate with admins. I am offering a donation along with my request to drop this sponsor.

My local DU meetup group is looking right now to find a new meetup spot because the restaurant we have been using is on the market and Hooters is a rumored buyer. So far, not one woman in our group is willing to hold our meetups at Hooters. Some of the men are in agreement. But meeting at Hooters is a mild concern compared to the crap on this sponsor's website.

[evlbstrd]

59. I don't like the ads.

And I am so fucking pissed about the Hooters!

[proud2BlibKansan]

67. The Hooters deal

may not happen. The Flea Market has been on the market for 10 years. Did you read the article in Pitch? I posted it over on our state board.

But nevertheless, we really should be shopping for a new spot. Just in case.

Our next meetup is Aug 17. YOU BETTER BE THERE!! :) I will be just back from my vacation in NC, where I am going to meet some fellow DUers!

[blondeatlast]

20. Believe me, it has been. Yesterday,. In no uncertain terms.

I won't comment on the response I got.

I like it here.

[GOPisEvil]

8. Before we get to the fundraiser, let's see what the Administrators have to

say on this subject. Perhaps an invitation to join this discussion or post something would be in order before making any decisions.

[intheflow]

10. Good thought!

I just "alerted" on the thread, asking the mods to ask the Admins to join our discussion. :)

[BikeWriter]

12. Oh, please. Don't post anything sensible and responsible!

:shrug:

[Patchuli]

14. I am with you!

Those are disgusting and exactly the way the freepers would like to paint us! :wtf: were our admins thinking??!

I already contribute to DU but I will certainly write the admins!

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. Good!

Hopefully they will pay attention to our concern here.

[Ariana Celeste]

17. Some of those are bad

but some of them are pretty funny, too.

Personally the ads mean nothing to me. I'll donate again when I have the money to, because I like this place. That's what it should be about.

[proud2BlibKansan]

28. I am willing to change to a regular monthly donation

if they remove this ad.

[Misunderestimator]

40. I am willing to cancel my monthly donation if they don't remove it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

43. Let's see what they have to say first

I love DU. I don't know that I am willing to give it up - for any reason.

[Redstone]

55. You and I, for once, agree on something.

This kind of crap is completely out of bounds. There's no excuse.

Furthermore, can you imagine how the Freepers are crowing about DU carrying an ad for that sewage?

Redstone

[Misunderestimator]

77. For once?

I seem to remember us Disagreeing only once. :)

And yes, I'm quite sure the whole thing was quite humorous for a lot of freepers. Especially since it seems it was a setup after all.

They must have gotten a big kick out of some DUers actually defending the ad.

[meti57b]

I'm speechless, so I hit the "recommend topic for greatest" link

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. Thanks

That should help the cause.

[Deja Q]

18. This one explains those sores in the back of her throat:

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. Who is Katie?

What am I missing here ?

[Ariana Celeste]

23. Katie Holmes

from Dawson's Creek- engaged to Tom Cruise

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. Thanks

I try my best to ignore Tom Cruise.

[postulater]

30. Where's Dawsons Creek?

[Deja Q]

35. This page should answer all of your questions:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=3727668

[proud2BlibKansan]

41. Thanks Hypno

Just one more question - what does the front of that t-shirt say?

[Cyndee_Lou_Who]

29. Um....

This is horribly offensive and I think it should be removed without me contributing a dime to the 'cause'.

[proud2BlibKansan]

32. I agree but

I understand the need for sponsors. So if we agree to help out with $$ then maybe we can get this ad pulled.

[Bunny]

33. Well, if the need for sponsors is so dire that we are reduced to

accepting ads of this sort, I'm afraid that "need" is about to grow, maybe a lot. Still, I think it' fair to wait for an explanation. I'm very concerned.

[CanuckAmok]

68. I don't disagree with you, but...

rather than "waiting", why not donate? I see you've already donated to DU, why not donate more? If DU was self-sustaining by membership donations, advertising wouldn't be required at all.

I wonder how many of the people who are pissed off by the now-removed advertisement have never given a cent to this site.

[Spider Jerusalem]

31. Offensive? Yeah. Most of those logos could be replaced with...

"Hello, I'm An Asshole" (which is what I tend to think of anyone I see wearing something like that).

[electron_blue]

36. You could get deleted & banned for posting that - why is DU

advertising for it?

[Spider Jerusalem]

39. Somehow I doubt that.

It's a valid opinion that doesn't specifically insult anyone (except, that is, for people who would actually wear those vile and moronic t-shirts, and THEY deserve to be insulted).

As to why the ad is there, I'm the wrong person to ask.

[Misunderestimator]

38. If they don't pull the ad, I have a feeling they will be losing a lot of

monthly donations. Starting with mine.

[usedtobesick]

42. I think the ad is gone, can't find it

Already?

[Name removed]

44. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Skinner]

45. We have removed the advertisement.

When we accepted the ad on Sunday night, it was a picture of Bush with the words "disobey". I looked briefly at their site and saw other liberal shirts and accepted the ad. It wasn't until Monday morning that we realized they had some shirts that were not appropriate. We discussed it and decided that since they did carry some shirts with liberal themes, we figured we would keep the ad and let all of you decide whether to purchase from them. Our feeling was that we should not be held responsible for every item that a store sells, in the same way that we should not be responsible for every book available through our Amazon.com link.

They have changed the advertisement a number of times without consulting us. This evening, as many of you are aware, they changed their ad to something that was completely inappropriate for our website. As soon as we became aware that a totally inappropriate t-shirt was showing on our website, we immediately removed the advertisement. It will not be coming back, and we will be returning their money tomorrow.

We apologize for this lapse of judgment. In retrospect, it is clear that we should have removed the advertisement as soon as we were aware of the nature of some of their merchandise.

Skinner
DU Admin

[MissB]

47. Thanks Skinner!

:applause:

[Pithlet]

48. Thank you!

I figured it was something like that. :thumbsup:

[progmom]

50. Wow - thank you skinner.

:loveya:

[johnnie]

51. Thanks Skinner

Compare to obvious popular belief, not all of us think sexism is cool.

[proud2BlibKansan]

53. THANK YOU SKINNER!!

Activism rocks!

Man, I just love this website. Why can't the whole world be as wonderful as DU??
:yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock: :yourock:

[derby378]

57. Just saw the shirts, and I think it's for the best.

Some of the designs are cute, but yes, many of them are pretty offensive. Good call.

[Redstone]

58. I had a feeling that they were pulling a number on you;

I would not believe for a second that you'd knowingly accept advertising for that stuff.

I got ten bucks that says it was done deliberately to try to make DU look bad.

Redstone

[proud2BlibKansan]

61. I want in on that bet

I was thinking the same thing. There is an invasion of sorts here tonight. More than just offensive t-shirts. Have you noticed?

[Redstone]

63. Haven't been on that long tonight. Any pointers would be

appreciated, because I'm in a vile mood from being in a ton of pain.

I'd really like a snack of roast troll right about now.

Redstone

[blondeatlast]

72. I wondered about that myself. nt

[intheflow]

64. I just donated to help make up for your loss of ad revenue.

I said I would if you removed the ad, and I am a woman of my word. You, Skinner, are a gentleman and a scholar. Thank you. :)

[FuzzySlippers]

65. Thank you, Skinner. n/t

[MuseRider]

66. I knew it had to be

something like that. I get disappointed sometimes here but I just knew this was not something you would support if it was offending people.

Have I told you lately how much I love and appreciate this place? Yes, every chance I get. Well here is another :loveya: and :applause:

Thank you Skinner. I was certain this was what would happen.

[blondeatlast]

71. As, ever, DU is the BEST political site on the web, bar none.

Thanks, friend.

[Misunderestimator]

76. Thank you, skinner... I was thinking that this had to be a trick.

And I don't think you should return their money.

It was however, very disappointing to see all the people here who thought it was perfectly fine for DU to link to such a sexist and misogynistic merchant. Very disappointing.

(On edit.... there were multiple threads on this... the comments I am referring to were on other threads than this one.)

[johnnie]

79. I just read thru every post here and there isn't one that finds it OK

What am I missing? I have seen a heck of a lot more people on DU against sexist and misogynistic threads and posts than I have seen for them. I have also seen more posts accusing people of misogyny here than cat threads.
For some reason there has been a massive upward swing of those accusations and I am wondering why. In fact, I have also seen a lot more threads that are started with intent to bait those accusations in my opinion. I'm beginning to wonder what is happening here.

[Misunderestimator]

80. Before you make assumptions... look here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=3729536&mesg_id=3729536

and here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x3729973

I didn't say everyone reacted that way, I said I was disappointed in all the people who did. I will agree with you on the baiting, there has been a lot of baiting lately.

[johnnie]

83. I read through both of those threads

The first one had no one supporting the hatred of women. I saw some people saying they thought some of the shirts were funny, but no one thinking that sexism is funny.
As for the second thread, that just got out of control over a thread that seemed to be started as a not so very funny "joke".
All I am saying is that the "battle of the sexes" has gotten out of hand here and I don't know why. Out of the thousands of people who post here, it is very rare to see any blatant misogyny. I started that one a while back, and it was an innocent question. I asked the mods to delete it and apologized to the forum as soon as I realized my mistake.
The vast majority of people here are not sexist, but a few seem to get off on starting those flame-fests. It is really getting ridiculous that every time I sign in on DU I see a battle. Trust me, I really do understand that no one likes to be belittled, but not many people like to be accused of things either.
That whole tee-shirt thing was an honest mistake by the administration and as soon as they were informed of it they dealt with it. It seemed to me that they were accused of things before they had a chance to address it and that seems to be becoming the norm around here.

[Misunderestimator]

84. Yes, it was an honest mistake by the admins.

And that's what I said. NO ONE is accusing DU of anything here. And I am very pleased that they pulled the ad. My problem was with the reactions of a few people who insisted on defending the ad as if it was some sort of "freedom of speech."

It wasn't just me offended by those people. And it isn't just a FEW sexists who start baiting threads here. Perhaps I'm more aware of it because I'm a woman. But you telling me that what I am seeing here doesn't exist, doesn't make it so.

If you can't find the problem in those threads with people dismissing this whole thing as a silly little freedom of speech issue... if you can't understand the extreme offense a woman would take at seeing t-shirts directly linked from THIS site that say "If I wanted to hear what you had to say, I'd take my cock out of your mouth," or "The fastest way to a woman's heart is through her fucking ribcage" then I don't know what it would take for you to understand.

[johnnie]

85. Self Deleted

I don't want to stir things up.

[Misunderestimator]

87. I agree with you...

The baiting works both ways. I don't have complaints with you johnnie... and I don't think I've done any baiting myself. But lately, there certainly have been more threads that have gotten to me personally, in a sexist way, that I have responded to.

It's difficult to understand the reactions of people who have heard the same insults for decades. Sometimes their reactions can seem from the outside to be over-the-top because you haven't experienced all that has come before. If this was the first time in my life I had experienced sexism, I might have a very different reaction to it. As it is... every insult is like salt in the wound.

[Redstone]

49. Well, it takes a lot of damn work to get me offended, but

"THE BEST WAY TO A WOMAN'S HEART IS THRU THE FUCKING RIBCAGE" does it.

Does DU really need an advertiser who sells T-shirts promoting (correct me if I'm wrong) stabbing or shooting women?

I'd rather see DU disappear than have it supported by this crap.

Redstone

[spacelady]

54. This is a question that needs to be asked, because

I have been wondering of late if one is a new poster with no star are we treated differently than posters with a star?
I am on the verge of donating, make me see the light.

[proud2BlibKansan]

56. The star

means you have donated but it also gives you search privileges.

You will be treated fine as long as you don't act like a RW freeper.

And BTW, here's a belated welcome to DU :hi:

[tjdee]

60. Donaters get a star and access to the DU groups.

And search, as I think someone said.

The DU Groups are like other forums, on lots of different topics, not all politically related.

[spacelady]

69. Yes, there are advantages.

[Mutley]

78. I didn't get a star until I was well over 1000 posts

and I was treated just fine. Just be respectful and for the most part people will treat you the same.

Donating is still a good idea, though. It gives you acess to the groups, plus it helps to keep DU up and running.

[tjdee]

62. I'm glad the ads are gone.

I trust Skinner and co. to run their site as they wish--and if they felt they needed the money then I accepted that.

But I of course am glad to see thme gone, and appreciate Skinner coming to talk to us about it.

[donheld]

73. Only reason this ad was approved in the first place

Was cuz Skinner want's you ladies to put him over your knee and :spank:

[LynneSin]

81. delete

delete

[Misunderestimator]

82. delete

Since you deleted, I'll delete.

[LynneSin]

91. I'll delete too

:D

Do we exist anymore or have we deleted out each other

[Hosnon]

86. I think the shirts are funny:) nt

[GOPisEvil]

89. You've got a lot to learn. Class will begin shortly, I'm sure.

:)

[Hosnon]

90. Yea I'm sure a simple post expressing my ability to find something

humorous regardless/because of its crudeness will be flame bait. Life's too short to care:)

[brainshrub]

92. Locking

The issue has been resolved.