Victor Davis Hanson:

Two of the rhetorical cornerstones of the feminist movement used to be zero-tolerance for sexual slurs by men alleging promiscuity (“slutty flight-attendant look”), and jokes about something as serious as rape...  David Letterman, who has become ever more creepy in his dotage, on both counts proved a boor — and receives only silence?

Because sexist smears aimed at 14-year-old girls are fine if they’re Republicans.  Duh.

National Organization for Women - Media Hall of Shame

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” -- 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...

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 22:35:57 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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