For the quintessential example of sexism in our media and political system, look no further than conservative political commentator and thankfully-former CNN contributor Erick Erickson. Through his speeches and posts on his RedState blog, Erickson has said some really nasty things. The Daily Kos compiled a list of some of the more vomit-inducing bits. Many of these quotes are about race and sexual orientation, but a fair number are sexist, misogynistic, ignorant remarks about women, abortion, liberals, liberal women, liberal women having abortions, and Michelle Obama. A few examples:
"Michelle Obama is a marxist harpy wife"
"[An anti-abortion ad during the Super Bowl]'s it!? That's what the feminazis were enraged over? Seriously?!? Wow. That's what being too ugly to get a date does to your brain."
"Good thing I didn't suggest the feminists … you know … shave. They'd be at my house trying a post-birth abortion on me."
and it goes shamelessly on.
What is really important, however, is that he gets away with it. Erickson says blatantly sexist things about the First Lady of the United States, a woman who is infinitely more subtle, intelligent, and eloquent than he will ever be. Yet, he worked as a commentator on CNN for nearly three years, and he left, not because he was fired, but because he went to work for, you guessed it, Fox. The question is, how did this happen? How can people like Erickson, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and Charles Krauthammer say sexist things on national television and still be highly regarded in our political world?
The answer may lie in who runs the media and who decides what to publish or air. The vast majority of executives in television companies and media conglomerates are men. Most of these are old, white men. While there are old, white men who are feminists or who believe in the ability of a woman to achieve what a man can, their number is few. These people are not directly offended by racist, sexist, homophobic, or Islamaphobic comments because they are not minorities, women, gay, or Muslim. As a result, the establishment is stacked against the most commonly victimized in our society. The media portrays women as objects for sex, and pigeonhole them into roles as mothers and housewives. They discourage and prevent women from moving up on their wits alone. That's why there are so few women on the news, and most of them are attractive, blond-haired, white, and rarely contributing much or substance to discussions. That's also why men like Erick Erickson can say despicable things about Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Claire McCaskill, Wendy Davis, and other strong, intelligent, powerful women whose gender the media has stacked against them.
Yes, it seems ridiculous to me how men can get away with making these sexist remarks as you stated. As we learned in MissRepresentation, men deregulated television in the late 20th century, and they continue to control the industry along with the rest of media. Without a larger number of women in higher positions, it seems that this trend will continue because if there is nobody to bring repercussions down upon them, then they will not stop.
ReplyDeleteYes it also does not make sense to me how men, who really have no real power except to influence can make such outlandish statements about women, who have probably been educated more and hold much higher positions in our society in comparison to a talk show host.
ReplyDeleteI agree with how crazy it is in how men are getting away with such offensive remarks. I find it odd in how the men don't take as much offense when they are targeted with the same remarks. Maybe it is because they have been around much longer in the media industry and have developed a some kind of immunity to such remarks. However, it can also be that they do take offense to such remarks, but that they don't show or share their feelings, which seems to be the assumption of the emotional behavior of men.
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