Posted by Pam Spaulding April 7, 2008 in Uncategorized, GLBT, Boggles the Mind, Bad Ideas, Assholes
And the problem with being a lesbian is…? I am so sick of these Cro-Magnons pontificating on the air. (Media Matters):
I’m serious — I don’t know what the f*ck Hitchens is talking about here. Are lesbians slow to make a point? Foot-draggers? Jesus. It’s nice to know he can combine misogyny and homophobia in one fell swoop. Admirable multitasking.
SULLIVAN: Two things. One, it’s important to clear up that he [Wright] did not say “The Jews are going to get you” in some conspiratorial, classic anti-Semitic fashion. I think that’s just —
HITCHENS: He [Wright] thinks only Jews are going to object to [Rev. Louis] Farrakhan and [Libyan leader Moammar] Gadhafi. Excuse me?
SULLIVAN: No, he didn’t say “only.”
HITCHENS: No, but —
SULLIVAN: Again, you keep playing with that quote. We’re happy to have it on the record. And now you’ve made me forget my second point, which is —
HITCHENS: Oh, well, don’t be such a lesbian. Get on with it.
SULLIVAN: I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten my second point. But I do think that’s important. And I don’t think Wright is Farrakhan. And I don’t think Obama, in any conceivable way, represents anything but racial inclusion and integration. And anybody that looks at any part of his career and can be in any doubt about that is beyond me.
The reason he went to that church, clearly, if you read his biography, is he wanted to understand what it was to be black in America. He didn’t understand. He’s a very polyglot person. He grew up in Hawaii, he had some time in Indonesia.
Perhaps Hitchens knows how many lesbians it takes to screw in a light bulb, or where the stock of conversion toasters are stashed. Inquiring minds want to know. Andrew Sullivan didn’t even bother to counter this crap. Sigh.
57 Responses to “Hitchens apparently knows more about lesbians than the rest of us”
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what I wanna know is why more isn’t made of the revelations about Hitchens’ “back, sack and crack” waxing, especially his drunkenly bragging about it to two female reporters, one of whom was dumb enough to take him up on his offer to give it a feel.
the word “eww” does NOT suffice.
I want these assholes *out* of the public debate. there’s just no place for them in times like these.
what I wanna know is why more isn’t made of the revelations about Hitchens’ “back, sack and crack” waxing, especially his drunkenly bragging about it to two female reporters, one of whom was dumb enough to take him up on his offer to give it a feel.
the word “eww” does NOT suffice.
I want these assholes *out* of the public debate. there’s just no place for them in times like these.
what I wanna know is why more isn’t made of the revelations about Hitchens’ “back, sack and crack” waxing, especially his drunkenly bragging about it to two female reporters, one of whom was dumb enough to take him up on his offer to give it a feel.
the word “eww” does NOT suffice.
I want these assholes *out* of the public debate. there’s just no place for them in times like these.
In my dream, it goes like this:
HITCHENS: Oh, well, don’t be such a lesbian. Get on with it.
SULLIVAN: Fuck you, pickled shit!
That would be a dream where Sullivan isn’t a misogynistic ass himself.
oops–sorry about the triple post…it kept showing “0 Comments”, even after I reloaded the main page.
having to see that three times is REALLY ugly.
Yeah, it’d be nice if blogsome (?) detected identical postings and simply deleted them. But nooooooooo…
(LJ does this.)
I think this is a nice illustration that misogyny can rear its head as a extreme modifier of other forms of bigotry. Sullivan is already gay, so Hitchens goes to the next level that it is much worse to be a woman who is gay that just a dude who is gay. Hitchens is beyond insane.
He was pretty good on that “Four Horsemen of Atheism” vid, as well as doing THE definitive eulogy for Jerry Falwell.
As far as any subject other than atheism, though, Hitchens is pretty useless.
“Don’t be such a lesbian”?
What world does he live in that he thinks this 1) is perfectly acceptable in the public discourse and 2) even makes sense?
Never mind.
i’m guessing that calling someone a lesbian is meant to be an acceptable insult of a person’s sexuality. Maybe hitchens thinks this is akin to calling someone a “bitch” and a “fag” at the same time without any of the potential backlash.
whatever the case, hitchens is clearly on the cutting edge of jackassery.
Anna G - I know I’m going to regret this, but where did you come across that anecdote? It seems like something that ought to be widely shared.
Hitchens is sooooo offensive. In this context lesbian=woman=addled and weak-minded. It’s old school sexism that Hitchens tries to frame in a gay lens since he knows that Sullivan is a gay man. Ick.
togolosh, I found it via Vanity Fair:
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/12/hitchens200712
I now need to bleach out my brain and will be busy for awhile…
thanks to Louise for at least one article I didn’t have to revisit again.
togolosh–here’s where Hitchens “takes it out for a walk”.
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2007/11/christopher_hitchens_waxed_sac.html
and a new one for me, that I need not have EVAR seen, actual photos of the waxing procedure. believe me, you’ll be a far better person for not having seen them.
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2007/12/hitchens_slideshow200712?slide=9#globalNav
Sure, but to be far to Hitchens, if us whacko lefties hadn’t created an environment where he couldn’t just call him a fag, he never would have to resort to calling him a girl!
/snark
i think
I just… WTF?? I mean, really now. Why in the world would anyone say that? It’s stupid, it makes no sense, it can’t be taken as anything BUT offensive…
Wait! I have an idea! Twisted and paranoid, but perfect in a perverse sort of way. What is Hitchens known for? Asshattery, and vehement defense of atheism, right? What if he is a plant of the religionsists, there to give atheism an even bigger black eye by making one of the most outspoken self-appointed defenders of atheism so flipping offensive, people just start to think of all atheists as raving, drunken misanthropes.
Of course, by this logic, Bill Donahue is probably a secret agent of Team Atheist…
Oh, the cognitive dissonance!!
I just… WTF?? I mean, really now. Why in the world would anyone say that? It’s stupid, it makes no sense, it can’t be taken as anything BUT offensive…
Wait! I have an idea! Twisted and paranoid, but perfect in a perverse sort of way. What is Hitchens known for? Asshattery, and vehement defense of atheism, right? What if he is a plant of the religionsists, there to give atheism an even bigger black eye by making one of the most outspoken self-appointed defenders of atheism so flipping offensive, people just start to think of all atheists as raving, drunken misanthropes.
Of course, by this logic, Bill Donahue is probably a secret agent of Team Atheist…
Oh, the cognitive dissonance!!
I’m serious — I don’t know what the f*ck Hitchens is talking about here.
The only thing that springs to mind is that he’s worried Sullivan is going to move in on the second date. And I didn’t even know Sullivan and Hitchens were dating.
Andrew Sullivan didn’t even bother to counter this crap.
Of course he didn’t. Sullivan himself is a misogynist.
On his blog he rarely addresses anything any woman has to say on any topic whatsoever - our viewpoints just don’t matter at all to him it seems.
And the way he writes about Hillary Clinton is aggravating beyond belief. Rare are the times when he makes a genuine critique - and there are plenty to be made. Most of his comments are emotion-laden rehashings of 1990s right-wing Clinton hating talking points all shined up and spewed forth anew.
I really really wanted to like and respect him, I really did. But his writings and rantings for the past several months have truly just turned me off.
I don’t know what the f*ck Hitchens is talking about here. Are lesbians slow to make a point? Foot-draggers?
And here I thought y’all were famous for “getting so much done in a day.”
Am I the first with that reference? Yes!
The “women aren’t funny” thing put him on notice; now I have no more questions about Hitchens’ gender politics. That’s about as red as a flag can get, as thick a stroke, as bright a fluorescent highlight as you can find anywhere.
My woman half has just overriden (overrode?) my atheist half and mentally kicked his waxed crack to the Isle of Lesbos.
Not to worry; I suspect the hair growing back has dished out more than enough painful, itchy revenge…
Not remotely surprising from the gin-sodden Hitchens. He’s a literary dandy – decadent, superficial and fundamentally useless – clothed in a shiny vocabulary and highly-polished accent. It’s been at least a decade since he’s said anything remotely interesting.
You are all overreacting. This is a cultural difference between America and the UK.
Remember when John Lennon said that the Beatles were “bigger than Jesus” (too young? So am I. Go look it up!)?
Remember when Elvis Costello called Ray Charles a n*gger?
The Brits simply don’t understand why we in the USA take insults of this nature so seriously. They trade barbed insults and arguments more freely than we do, and they don’t take offense on the receiving end.
I’m not defending Hitchens in general, I’m just saying you’re blowing this one way out of proportion.
*blink* Weirdest insult ever.
Eh, although I loved some of Hitchens’ pre-9/11 essays, he’s always been a pro-lifer and of late has been arguing that male circumcision is as grave an injustice as FGM; and he and Sullivan ganged up rather nastily on Vivian Gornick at a panel on Orwell a few years back. And remember his remark on “Powell’s bitch”? Feminism has never been his long suit.
“Um, Bartender, I’d like to send a drink to the man at that table over there”
“Very well, what would you like to send”
“Vinegar and water, please”
*blink* Weirdest insult ever.
As my sons say “that would be an insult IF there was something wrong with being gay”.
Oh Ecrin, you are soooo sophisticated and utterly superior to us lowly yanks. We neeeed you to explain it to all of us, utter rubes that we are.
Your experience as a female and a lesbian in the US no doubt colors your description of our “overreaction” here …
With as much of a heroic intake of gin as Hitchens consumes on a daily basis, I’m surprised that the transcript doesn’t read:
Hitchens: [garbled, hiccup, small belch, garbled] thespian.
I still think no one has yet described Hitchens better than George Galloway: “You’re a drink-soaked ex-Trotskyite popinjay.”
They’re both obviously Patriarchal Penis Oppressors and latent homosexuals in need of Shenis love. Should give each other prostate massages. Peace!
The Brits simply don’t understand why we in the USA take insults of this nature so seriously.
A. Not everyone on this blog is American.
B. The only Brits that “don’t understand” are the racist, misogynist ones.
Nice try, Ecrin. Brits are perfectly capable of understanding sexism and racism.
it’s a wonder hitchens managed to stay upright in his chair long enough to make the asinine utterance.
what a lush! lesbians rock.
Sniper:
As a Brit, I can say that you’re absolutely right.
Hitchens’ comment is sexist, homophobic and just downright weird. Nobody I’ve mentioned this to has the slightest clue what he is talking about.
This reminded me of an awesome blog:
http://menwholooklikeoldlesbians.blogspot.com/2007/10/christopher-hitchens_17.html
Is anyone really surprised? This is the asshole who wrote an article about how women aren’t funny, and once told a friend that Native Americans got what was coming to them.
::huge eyeroll:: Damn, really? Don’t you know the Brits invented the term “taking the piss”? IMO that’s all Hitchens is doing here.
Ecrin Maliou, I’m a Brit, and you’re completely wrong. We do not live in a land of cricket and tea-drinking where we all go around wearing bowler hats and calling each other lesbians for no obvious purpose. Furthermore, I do not personally know the Queen, and my teeth are quite passable, thanks.
There are a number of lesbians in Britain, though it can be hard to find them amid all the Morris dancers, toffs and terrorists. They would be just as bewildered by Hitchens’s inexplicable evocation of them as the apogee of absent-mindedness as would lesbians anywhere else.
Nobody here is overreacting. What they are saying, if you don’t mind me summing it up in best Anglo-Saxon, is that Hitchens is trying very hard to be a dickhead, but he’s even fucked that up, the wazzock.
stop giving him attention… I agree that we need these people out of the public debate; they are polarizing and unhelpful.
Speaking as someone from a culture where we also use “taking the piss” so please don’t presume that you lot invented the bloody term.
And you’re a fucking moron.
The only people that would defend this or downplay it, are those that secretly want to be free to use such language themselves
hey pam, check your mail. there is another hate crime being fomented and the only place I can find it mentioned is a local TV station. That is at least one good thing about our local media in Boston.
What a pity that we even have to pay attention to this degenerate drunk. If he was just an average drunk passed out on the sidewalk, we could step over him and go about our business.
It makes sense, I mean, those tiny lesbians did come out of the walls of Hitchens’ apartment and stole that fifth of Jim Bean he was saving for emergencies. You can’t blame a man for being getting his dander up about that.
(removes virtual reality Hitchens-simulating googles)
The fact that Sullivan passes for a decent conservative, of whatever he is, is a commentary in and of itself. Hillary Clinton ought to be emailing his posts to Obama supporters, every time I read Sullivan on Clinton, I want to vote for her. The way she unhinges certain people just has to mean something good.
Um, Bartender, I’d like to send a drink to the man at that table over there”
“Very well, what would you like to send”
“Vinegar and water, please”
Oh, please–Hitchins already has a big enough martyr complex, tio a degree surprising in an atheist.
The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
rea, I think Ms Kate, rather than implying Hitch has a persecution-complex, was instead pointing out what a douchebag he is. At least that’s how I read it…
:)
We do not live in a land of cricket and tea-drinking where we all go around wearing bowler hats and calling each other lesbians for no obvious purpose.
The first part of this sentence took me straight to Masterpiece-Theater-land, and the second part jolted me out of it quite amusingly. Well done.
Yeah, it’s too bad being an atheist doesn’t necessarily make you a reasonable person. I cringe whenever I see this guy lumped with Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris among the great atheist cheerleaders of our time.
Remember when Elvis Costello called Ray Charles a n*gger?
Yeah, it nearly destroyed his career and he’s been apologizing for it ever since. Your point?
Yep, douchebag. Not wine and vinegar, vinegar and water - the contents of a douchebag.
Pro-life, but not anti-choice. That’s a very important distinction, though it’s rare that anyone actually qualifies for that distinction.
I really can’t hold his pro-life personal views against him when he’s pro-choice in the public sphere.
Not that that counts for much. He’s still a crazy right-wing fuck.
There. Now that’s an insult.
Christopher Hitchens’ function in the universe is to prove that religious fundamentalism is not a necessary ingredient in misogynist fuckwaddery, even if it helps.
That is his only function.
The ever self-righteous SarahMC“Speaking as someone from a culture where we also use “taking the piss” so please don’t presume that you lot invented the bloody term.”
Bored now.
The only people that would defend this or downplay it, are those that secretly want to be free to use such language themselves
“Don’t be such a lesbian”?
How do we know if we secretly want to be as transgressive and edgy as Hitchens if we don’t know what the hell Hitchens was trying to snark?
Geez, Sarah, you’re *such* a transistor! A complete and utter phone directory. And, let’s face it, Hitchens is The Wall Unit!
(There’s a Monty Python sketch lurking in here, I just know it.)
Actually , the rest of the world thought the original remark was just kinda incomprehensible, but the outraged and indignant reation, well thats just outright funny.