Posted on 06/12/2009 12:38:29 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Credit where credit’s due.
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Comedians in search of a laugh should really know better than to snicker about men having sex with teenage girls (or young women) less than half their age.
The sexualization of girls and women in the media is reaching new lows these days — it is exploitative and has a negative effect on how all women and girls are perceived and how they view themselves. Letterman also joked about what he called Palin’s “slutty flight attendant look” — yet another example of how the media love to focus on a woman politician’s appearance, especially as it relates to her sexual appeal to men. Someone of Letterman’s stature, who appears on what used to be known as “the Tiffany Network” (CBS), should be above wallowing in the juvenile, sexist mud that other comedians and broadcasters seem to prefer.
On that point, it’s important to note that when Chelsea Clinton was 13 years old she was the target of numerous insults based on her appearance. Rush Limbaugh even referred to her as the “White House dog.” NOW hopes that all the conservatives who are fired up about sexism in the media lately will join us in calling out sexism when it is directed at women who aren’t professed conservatives.
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People on Twitter are grumbling about that last paragraph but (a) given how peeved the sisterhood will be that they’re defending Palin, surely you won’t begrudge NOW some sort of ass-covering knock on conservatives here, and (b) their point is, unfortunately, too often valid, as a scroll through righty blog comments about Michelle Obama or Hillary Clinton (at least before 2008) will attest. A compromise, then: The right will join in calling out sexism directed at liberal women when the left stops treating conservative women as “inauthentic” or traitors to their gender because they happen to be pro-life. Deal?
Meanwhile, Michael Steele hints at a boycott of Letterman’s show. Really? Even an awful joke is still a joke. I think the PR beating he’s taking is enough.
Update (Ed): Since NOW has been good enough to put principle above politics, then I can do the same by agreeing that conservative pundits should leave menstruation out of their criticisms of Sonia Sotomayor. If we complain about the belittling and sexualizing of conservative women in politics, then G. Gordon Liddy should stick to the substantive issues in the Sotomayor nomination. I hadn’t heard about that one until I clicked over to NOW’s site.
http://www.now.org/issues/media/hall-of-shame/
Astounding.
More Breaking News.....The 2010 Winter Olympic Games will be moved to Hell, where it has just froze over....
There's a huge difference between saying that a girl is homely; and saying that she wants to be raped (statutory, or otherwise). This absurd “moral equivalence” is a blatant attempt to diminish Letterman's offense.
I give NOW very little credit for this because I see them as acting ONLY (and belatedly at that) because they were shamed into doing so by days of hectoring from conservatives and a few more-conscientious liberals.
Here is the contact information you need to take immediate action:
Leslie Moonves
CBS President and CEO
(323) 575-2345
Rob Burnett
Executive Producer, The Late Show
(212)975-5300
Without question it is “open season” on conservatives, and unless we respond with unwavering force in every instance, these kinds of disgusting and cowardly attacks will escalate.
—from: Media Research Center
Now he’s got something in common with Rush.
I’m glad to see this. Maybe it’s finally happening with NOW,people do change.
As for the Rush comment, I think it is apples to oranges.
However; I also think they make a point, some humor is just wrong.
Damn. I got exactly what I asked for. Now I have to write to them and congratulate them.
Damn. I hate when people I don’t like do the right thing when I tell them to.
Oh, well. I’ll also have to agree with them about the Chelsea Clinton business—I always thought it was irrelevant and out of line, anyway. Truth is, if we take all the appearance issues out of women’s politics, it helps us more than them on balance, since our women are vastly better on merit and intellectual integrity than theirs are.
New bumper sticker: “OUR WOMEN CAN DEBATE THE CRAP OUT OF YOUR WOMEN!”
well even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.
There is a contact link a NOW’s website.....it will pack much more punch coming from NOW!
Letterman should be happy he didn't get so much as a "shame on you" from the National Organization of Ugly Women.
Yeah, I thought the menstruation comment was pretty dumb, personally. I don’t like seeing the sexist comments from our side, too. It belittles us and undermines our real issues with policy and character. However, I do reserve the right to comment on bad plastic surgery, too much grooming by men, or hair plugs.
Might as well. The Games have as much business being there as on the beach in Southern Russia. :-))
LOL. NOW only issued this statement because conservatives pressured them through e-mails and phone calls.
“Let's hope that the key conferences aren't when she's menstruating or something, or just before she's going to menstruate. That would really be bad. Lord knows what we would get then.”
Please don't equate Liddy’s joke that plays off of the words of an adult woman seeking a lifetime appointment with the slur of a fourteen year old because of her mother's ideology.
I agree there is a tremendous difference, but I disagreed with Rush when he made unkind comments about Chelsea and I still disagree. Children should be off limits.
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