Misogyny is alive and well at Prog Blogs, much of it of the passive-aggressive variety that veterans will recognize. It breaks out whenever the site admin and his mods are called on their passivity—or complicity—by feminists.

You can get the bare bones of the story here—no point repeating the sorry tale in its entirety. In a nutshell, two “progressive” bloggers think that the upcoming parliamentary debate on abortion is a Good Thing, and each of them published posts defending it.

Protests met with sanctimonious smirks. You just can’t tell some folks that debating whether or not women should have human rights isn’t progressive, but, you know, sort of the opposite. Nor do you sniff around for compromises on this. It would be like trying to deal with segregation back in the ‘sixties by permitting Blacks to ride anywhere in the bus except the first two rows of seats, or integrating lunch counters but not water fountains.

There’s plenty of nuance about abortion itself. There is none, or there shouldn’t be among progressives, on the question of choice. Rights are like that—you either have ‘em or you don’t. Supporting and defending those rights isn’t a hard-line or “pure” stance. It’s a fundamental progressive value.

Now one of the best feminist blogs out there, DAMMIT JANET!, is taking its leave. And I’m in a quandary, because I’m in complete solidarity with them. But if there is to be a boycott, we need a wider discussion. In the meantime, I’ll be sticking around, and I promise to be an almighty thorn in several sides. If we were to gather together a few bloggers into an alternative progressive blogroll, however, count me in. And out.

UPDATE: The crew over at DAMMIT JANET! had intended to post individual goombye messages (to be picked up by Proggers), but the feed was cut by admin Scott Tribe before Niles and Mandos and Beijing York could get their licks in. So go read their farewells at the links. In fact, collect the whole set.