Wow. The National Organization for Women (NOW) has put David Letterman into its Media Hall of Shame! That would be for the crimes of making crude sexist jokes about Sarah Palin's teenage daughter and referring to Governor Palin as a woman who has a "slutty flight attendant look."
NOW's Media Hall of Shame was created in response to the tsunami of misogyny directed at Hillary Rodham Clinton for the gender crime of almost taking the prize of the presidency away from the boyz. It's true that NOW's defense of Hillary was too late and woefully too weak, but moving on . . finally, NOW seems to have heard the deafening sound of women criticizing the feminist organization for its failure to take a stand against sexism when it is directed at conservative women.
Sexism hurts all women and all girls and sexism is rampant in this ugly misogyny infested culture. A National Organization for Women that actually does battle with the misogyny run wild in this culture could make some major progress in making the world a little safer for girls and women everywhere.
NOW Media Hall of Shame: Offender: David Letterman on "Late Show with David Letterman"
The Offense: Late night TV host David Letterman "joked" that during their recent trip to New York, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter "was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez" during a Yankees baseball game. The next night Letterman said that the hardest part of Palin's trip was "keeping Eliot Spitzer away from her daughter."
NOW Analysis: After two nights of "jokes" at the expense of Palin and her family, Letterman tried to explain himself and offer something of an apology. On his June 10 show, Letterman said he was referring to Palin's 18-year-old daughter, Bristol -- not the 14-year-old daughter who actually accompanied Palin on her New York trip. Letterman said "I recognize that these are ugly" jokes. NOW agrees. 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" -- . . . Take Action: Write to CBS and tell them what you think.
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Gee, I wonder if Keith Olbermann will induct NOW into his hall of Worst Persons. KO gave the Worst Person award to Elton John and Katie Couric for the crime of naming the sexism. Currently the sexist jackass is attacking Sarah Palin for the crime of defending her daughters from Letterman's attack!
Update: Gawd. Check out Gordon Liddy's argument against Sonia Sotomayor -- he's afraid of menstruating women!!??!!
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin: David Letterman encouraged 'acceptance of abuse of younger women'
Feminist Politics Gender News Misogyny Patriarchy Sarah Palin Media Sexism David Letterman Keith Olbermann
