So, I don't have super-strong feelings about the Amanda Palmer backlash brewing in the feminist blogosphere. I like "The Jeep Song" just fine. But I generally believe that abled-bodied people pretending to be disabled is uncool (to be clear, I don't across the board believe that able-bodied should not be allowed to play disabled people in fictional roles: my issue is with people either pretending they have a disability, as a number of celebrities have copped to doing recently, or creating disabled alter-egos and appropriating an experience they haven't actually had), that joking about giving money to the Klan is tacky and insensitive, and that being a huge drama queen for the attention is just generally annoying. But one thing that's bothered me about the debate is this: one of the things folks have criticized Palmer for is a skit at an anti-Proposition 8 rally where she pretends to rape a Katy Perry impersonator as a kind of revenge for "I Kissed a Girl." I think it's possible to agree both that "I Kissed a Girl" is stupid and dopey and semi-offensive, and that fake rape is vile and unfunny and profoundly not politically effective. I watched the video, which I've put under the jump, because it could definitely be a trigger.
So I have no problem with folks giving Palmer a hard time for this stupid, ugly, unhelpful stunt. But if they're going to criticize her, Margaret Cho, her partner in bad agitprop, had better be in for some heat, too. I was really, profoundly disappointed to see Cho involved in something this bad, and more importantly, this dumb. Cho has a history of being, I think, usefully offensive. But this is not one of her better moments. Hopefully it's just a temporary lapse in judgement.