Al Franken? No, Investigate EBAY and PAYPAL

The hoo-hah today is about Al Franken. Why?

In 2006, Al Franken, known to be irreverent and edgy, was photographed ogling a PLAYBOY PLAYMATE through her KEVLAR vest. Oooh, the horror: 

Let's remember that this is a Playboy Playmate, who has been doing USO appearances with Franken in the same manner as Jayne Mansfield did them with Bob Hope. Let's also remember that Bob Hope was a cocksman well known for cheating on his beloved wife for over 40 fucking years.

Is it possible that a woman who has posed naked in Playboy, and who has regularly been smirking on stage to the hoots and whistles of soldiers, can be OFFENDED by a gag photo? Sure. 

But let's take a look NOT at a photo taken of a fairly obscure comedian (2006, he was long gone from "Saturday Night Live") and take a look at a few of the photos being offered on EBAY right NOW: 

Yes,  in the "adult section" of eBay they are STILL abusing and humiliating women for fun and profit. The seller here, AWESOMEPHOTOS, isn't saying these are fakes. He's just selling this junk AS IS. Hey guys, "Linda Ronstadt" photo. Real? Not real? 

MODEL RELEASE, NO MODEL RELEASE?

Ebay supposedly has rules on "offensive materials" now, but these items were reported weeks ago and NOT STOPPED. That tells you that EBAY is a perverted, nasty company, and so is PAYPAL, who process the payments. 

Ashley Judd is fighting in public about women's rights? Ashley Judd is being victimized on eBay RIGHT NOW:

Elsewhere on this site, you can read about the FEDERAL LAW that demands that pornographers have on file a signed letter of AGE AND CONSENT. 

Senator Al Franken and other lawmakers should be seeing to it that EBAY and PAYPAL obey their "Terms of Service" AND Federal Law. Obviously, they don't. Not only don't they bother to police their site (they claim it takes too much time and they aren't legally obligated), EBAY AND PAYPAL don't even remove items like the above when asked. 

Use the "report item" link and go through the hoops to send the complaint to ADULT material, NOT ALLOWED or OFFENSIVE MATERIAL, and half the time nothing happens. Call up the line for eBay and talk to a very concerned FEMALE who insists she is offended by this and will make SURE the item is removed...NOTHING HAPPENS.

Surely Senator Franken and the others, so concerned about the poor treatment of women in America, should be concerned about EBAY and PAYPAL, where not only famous women, but ANY WOMEN can be targeted with fake nudes, revenge porn, and images being sold without their knowledge or consent. 

The Al Franken story? Men in general need to understand that power positions shouldn't include sexual innuendo or abuse. But a good percentage of people in power, male or female, tend to develop a lot of arrogance. There are WOMEN at eBAY and PAYPAL who are ignoring the abuse you see on this page. They work in various departments of EBAY and PAYPAL, and they take phone calls and answer e-mails and pretty much say, "Nope, I'm no Norma Rae, I'm no Erin Brokovich and I'm not going to ask CEO Devin Wenig what is going on." Women who are in power positions at eBay ignore letters about this problem, and can't even be reached by phone or email. 

The situation with EBAY and PAYPAL is much more outrageous than the Al Franken story.

WHY? Because IT IS STILL GOING ON. 

Franken's jackass behavior happened 11 years ago. It wasn't a pattern of behavior (like his colleague Louis CK). He wasn't a Senator. He was an edgy comedian who may have been a big edgier than usual because he was on a USO tour and seeing a little more death destruction and chaos than he was expecting. He may have been dealing with crude conditions and less than luxurious travel accomodations, and maybe the reason behind the gag photo was that he was letting off steam, or he figured he could be dead any minute, blown out of the sky. Touching a Playboy model through several layers of insulation isn't much of a crime. 

Compare it to what EBAY sellers are doing: deliberately abusing, humiliating and degrading every popular star. 

Franken's mea culpa has extended to welcoming an investigation into his ethics, and encouraging anyone to come forward who has a complaint. CEO Devin Wenig isn't doing that on EBAY is he? He's more on the same page with Harvey Weinstein or Kevin Spacey or the others who are rich, powerful, smug and selfish. 

EBAY should be cleaning up their act and making sure that NO WOMAN is being abused on the site. That means NO "Selling my ex-wife's photos" auctions, NO "Ex-Girlfriend" pictures, NO "Amateur sex videos" unless from well known professional companies that bought the rights AND have the signed model releases. NO celebrity nudes. 

EBAY should also make sure that Ashley Judd, Rose McGowan, Gal Gadot and EVERY OTHER ACTRESS is aware of what's going on. Right now, if Ashley Judd types in "Ashley Judd," on eBay, all she sees are what eBay WANTS her to see. She doesn't see "Ashley Judd...this image is in the adult section, and can only be accessed if you have a valid credit card on file." She should. She should know that there's an adult section and her images are in there. 

Al Franken? Compare him to CEO Devin Wenig, and Al Franken is a SAINT. Devin...more of the DEVIL.