Who is a Sexist Now?

Last week I took some guff from an anonymous commenter who suggested I was a sexist for comparing a female columnist with a jilted high school drama queen. This after the columnist suggested that Sarah Palin was setting women back by decades.

I was, according to the commenter, making statements about Rochelle Riley, the columnist, based solely on my knowledge of her gender which, to some degree, is true. If the column had been written by Richard Riley I would have called him an hysterical punk. I'm not so sure that such comments are any more sexist than my selection of the proper pronoun to describe any particular drama queen or thug, but then again, I'm continually perplexed by past attempts by feminists to have manhole covers renamed personhole covers. I'm so last century.

However, as an opinionated blogger, I make no bones about who I support or what I think. Neither does Rochelle Riley. This fact makes us a deserving target when people disagree with us. If we don't like it we should quit writing. She can give up her huge salary writing for nationwide audiences and all the accolades that go with it, while I can start going to bed at a decent hour without Mom wondering why I turned out to be such a jerk.

This is not the case for news sources that supposedly embrace feminism and objectivity while at the same time doing everything within their power to steer the electorate toward their subscribed viewpoint through subtle and sometimes not so subtle propagandizing and, in this case, overt sexism.

One of the more blatant examples comes from a recent series of photographs published by Reuters. In the picture below, a young male supporter stares up at the VP nominee as if Palin is little more than a stripper on stage.


If Reuters presented itself as nothing more than an partisan tool of the left, this sort of thing would be understandable, if not any less objectionable. For Reuters to engage in this sort of promotion while still clinging to the shroud of objectivity is a misuse of the public trust.

But, when Barack Obama is elected president we will not see a Fairness Doctrine aimed at this sort of shenanigans. It will be directed to the one portion of the media that conservatives have a sound foothold--that of talk radio.

Let the change begin!