CailinDana, your post at Mon 20-Aug-12 20:08:14 sums up very neatly something that puzzled me for a long time. I couldn't work out why so many commentators, generally on the left of the political spectrum, who I would rate for their clear and firm views on issues like racism, class, disability and other social, economic and political issues seemed to have a complete "blank spot" when it comes to sexism.
But when you look at it, they can distance themselves (or at least try) from any responsibility for the oppression of people of colour, of disabled people, of poor people, etc., and boost their "I'm right on" credentials by taking down people who say and do things that are bigoted or discriminatory on those grounds.
However, it's not quite so easy to squirm away from their gender privilege, particularly where they have and continue to benefit personally (e.g. wife, girlfriend, etc.) as well as collectively from male privilege. So, rather than "owning" their privilege and at least fessing up to the dilemmas they face (or better yet, demonstrating how they put their beliefs into action by living as non-sexist men,) they do their damned best to deny that sexism exists, wherever and whenever they can.
I think having tackled folks who are bigoted on other fronts, they learned well how to use tactics of minimising, denial and blaming as well as diversion. That's what we're seeing from George Galloway, Craig Murray, Julian Assange and all those men (and some women, who believe it's better for them to carve out their own niche within a misogynist system rather than challenging it,) who support their sexist views. These statements of course in turn give validation to all the other men out there who believe they are entitled to control women, including sexually, as their right.
But, it's encouraging to see plenty of women and men refusing to collude with these views, even where their voices aren't as loud, aren't picked up by major media outlets. There's just SO much work yet to be done, but we can't give up.