Ignorance and Venom

international | gender and sexuality | other press Monday February 18, 2008 16:47 by Gender aware

The Media's Deeply Ingrained Sexism

While many Indymedia readers are probably not fans of any of the prospective presidential candidates in the US, I thought this analysis of the coverage was quite interesting and worth putting up. While I don't agree with all the points made, it does provide some interesting and disturbing commentary on the media coverage, and the way in which feminisation of the candidates is seen as a way of degrading them (particularly in relation to Clinton, of course). While I'm not her greatest fan, I do think some of the points made here and the examples given show how deep the distrust of female leadership still goes in Western society. Obama has faced some ethnocentric bias too, but it seems his charisma and gender are saving him from the worst of it.

Ignorance and Venom: The Media's Deeply Ingrained Sexism

Below the Belt: A Biweekly Column by NOW President Kim Gandy

February 14, 2008

"My email runneth over. I can't tell you how many people have emailed or
called me outraged by the sorry display of sexism in the media these days.
Much of this venom is currently directed at one woman -- Sen. Hillary
Clinton -- though as we have pointed out before, no woman in the
public eye, from Nancy Pelosi to Michelle Obama, is exempt.

For the first time in our nation's history, the idea of a woman president is
no longer limited to the fantasy world of TV or movies. Possibility could
become reality this November, and some folks are just having a hard time
dealing with it. That many of those people have high-profile jobs at major
news outlets is a cryin' shame."

http://www.now.org/news/note/021408.html)