I wanted to go through and highlight the derailing tactics and utter nonsense in this article.
It was highly inappropriate and probably illegal
Inappropriate? Keep in mind a fair chunk of this article is devoted to defending the sanctity of dick jokes.
Also, nothing Richards did was illegal.
The two aspects eliciting tremendous backlash are (1) plain hypersensitivity to an overheard conversation not intended for her, and (2) extreme overreaction involving multiple steps taken,
Richards was being overly sensitive.
knowingly and intentionally, to inflict public damage on private individuals
— whether as retribution, for her own self-aggrandizement, or other reasons.
She was being hostile.
Saying off-color things to each other, not intending to be overheard is not harassment. We are all subjected to tastless jokes and other offensive remarks our entire lives. How many times have you overheard a racist joke?
I’ve experienced this, too! If it happens all the time, it can’t be harassment! (As opposed to: this happens all the time, so not only is it a problem, it’s a BIG problem.)
Believe it or not, plenty of women actually find dick jokes to be funny (at least some of the time). Like, I dunno, my wife (who’s done improv comedy) or pretty much every comedienne alive. Have you listened to Sarah Silverman? Watched Sex and the City (TV series & creative franchise)? How on earth could something involving “dongles” be so wildly offensive as to constitute harassment if unintentionally overheard?
Some women don’t find it offensive, so NO WOMEN should find this offensive EVER.
In fact, isn’t it patronizing to assume in this day and age that all women are such delicate little flowers that their tender ears need to be sheltered from profanity or coarse humor?
Richards is actually hurting teh wimminz by pretending to be offended.
Clearly nobody intended to hurt, harm, intimidate, or harass her.
Richards clearly imagined that these statements were offensive.
By contrast, everything about Richards’ conduct was deliberate, intended to cause as much harm and/or milk as much publicity as she could from that single event.
She was just as bad as the sexists…worse, even!
There were probably other classic derailing tactics that I missed. At any rate, defending sexism is AWESOME and calling it out is for bitches, so MOAR DICK JOKES 4 EVRY1!!eleventy!