Australia's Herald Sun has come up with an opinion piece entitled US politics is no place for a woman.

I believe that generally a journalist doesn't come up with an article title; I hope to goodness I remember aright!

The general thrust of the article is far from offensive. In fact, I think it's excellent. Though the piece is relatively short, it points out the flaws of Gov. Sarah Palin's role in the presidential campaign, and its potential repercussions on women in politics. It presents her faults as the faults of a human being rather than something intrinsically feminine, and also observes how her nomination was blatant pandering.

In short, I liked the article a lot. It was a concise summary of various things that were wrong with Gov. Palin's position.

But oh gosh. The article title. What can I say? It smacks of belittling condescension and runs completely counter to the piece.

This is a very tiny issue, I know, compared to the huge things that are going on in the world right now. But it's also one of those "one step forward, two steps back" that stays at the back of your mind for the rest of the day.

0

You recommended

1 Comments

February 3, 2009 12:41 AM

[0+]  Rebecca_J said:

I get the impression that whoever wrote the headline meant it as a sort of ... I don't know what the word is. But basically taking an obviously outdated sentiment and changing its meaning with the content of the article. In this case I think they were trying to change the meaning of this statement from "women shouldn't be politicians" to "politics/the media, aren't very welcoming/accessible to women." I do think they went a little too far down the road of subtlety for their intent to be clear.

I  Liked  Liked this comment  |  Reply |

Leave a comment

Comments (You may use HTML tags for style)