Earlier this week, my colleague Robert Tracinski wrote about the lessons we could learn from the ridiculous freakout some feminists had over the shirt worn by scientist Matt Taylor.

The third lesson dealt with how there’s no rhyme, reason, or consistency to modern feminism:

There are no logically consistent rules. If there were some rule of common sense to all of this—or any rules at all—that would be one thing. The feminist orthodoxy would constitute a new sexual etiquette, and while we might question whether the new rules are necessary or whether they’re excessively Victorian in their restrictiveness, we would at least know how to comply with them. But the modern feminist creed is notable for its glaring irrational inconsistency.

A few days later, we have perfect evidence of this in the form of one journalist’s completely contradictory reaction to two situations.

Chris Plante, a writer at The Verge, (and not, I should note, the host of the WMAL radio show) was one of the leaders of the mob that went after scientist Matt Taylor for wearing a kitschy bowling shirt with cartoon depictions of buxom women with bare shoulders. His piece, which showcased the great deal of perspective and balance and nuance that everyone had about the shirt worn by a guy who had just landed a spaceship on a comet hurtling through space, was headlined:

I don’t care if you landed a spacecraft on a comet, your shirt is sexist and ostracizing: That’s one small step for man, three steps back for humankind

The piece was full of over-reactions such as “This is the sort of casual misogyny that stops women from entering certain scientific fields.” I know. I rolled my eyes, too. I discussed how arguments such as that belittle the strength of women in “It’s Time To Push Back Against Feminist Bullies.” I should probably also mention that Plante was active in GamerGate, the controversy over the relationship between video game makers and the press that cover them. Plante was on the side that said criticism of those relationships was misogynistic, and he’s written about how video games need to be more socially conscious.

OK, so now let’s look at what Chris Plante is talking about this week:

‘Pitch Perfect 2’ trailer reminds world ‘Pitch Perfect’ is brilliant and should be seen by everyone

Pitch Perfect 2? Awesome. My husband and I loved Pitch Perfect, much to our surprise. It’s a movie about an a capella troupe and it’s surprisingly funny and well done. So let’s look at the trailer, or just check out the trailer’s final joke:

Now, that is a genuinely edgy joke to make in these fevery times. Rebel Wilson’s character (“Fat Amy”) tells a boy she doesn’t want to have sex with him but then winks at him. When he asks for clarification, she denounces the idea of sex even more strongly. And then winks at him again.

The joke works with the character, and it also plays off of some general issues dealing with seduction and flirtation between the sexes. But there is no question that it’s tremendously politically incorrect in this “Yes Means Yes” affirmative consent era.

So we have a movie trailer that ends with a joke about how sometimes when a girl says “no” to sex she really means “yes.” And Chris Plante is overjoyed with this trailer. This is the same guy who, exactly one week prior, thought a scientist was ruining the world because he wore a shirt in which women showed too much skin. This is the same guy who thought women could be discouraged from going into scientific fields because a dude who landed a spaceship on a comet wore a kitschy shirt. This is a guy whose own GamerGate rhetoric could not be more incendiary if it were doused in kerosene.

Sure, the line in the movie trailer is just a joke. And Comet Guy’s shirt was just a shirt. And video games are just games. So the only thing that determines which ones are deemed sexist and regressive is Chris Plante’s whim, I guess. Glaring irrational inconsistency, indeed.

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