The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘Sexism’ in the Sexualized Society

Posted on | November 8, 2010 | 34 Comments

In 1981, KMBC-TV removed Christine Craft from her position as a news anchor, after a focus group rated her poorly, saying that the 37-year-old newswoman was “too old.”

Craft filed a sexual-discrimination suit against the Kansas City ABC affiliate under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and such lawsuits have since become rather common: Former Seattle news anchor Nadine Woodward, 48, recently filed suit against KREM-TV, for example, while CNN was sued by Marina Kolbe, 42, and Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge, 46, has complained of discrimination at the cable network.

Certainly, the plaintiffs in these cases believe that TV news discriminates against older women as on-air personalities. And thank goodness for that. Otherwise we might turn on our TVs and see the news delivered by a cast of grizzled Helen Thomas lookalikes.

Rule 5 — “Everybody loves a pretty girl” — is obviously a factor in the TV news business, and why shouldn’t that rule work in New Media? So when I titled a post “Finally, PJTV Discovers Rule 5,” this was not intended to disparage PJTV or any of its personnel, but merely an observation of the apparent application of my own dictum.

Exactly why everybody got all up in arms about this . . . well, I can’t claim to be entirely mystified. The influence of law on culture is such that, once society accommodated itself to the concept of ”sexual discrimination” (a concept accidentally invented by segregationist Rep. Howard W. Smith in 1964), it was inevitable that people would find themselves accused of wrongdoing outside any legal or workplace context.

It is not surprising to find myself accused of being “sexist” (i.e., prone to engage in wrongful discrimination) for having employed the phrase “eye candy” to describe the new 25-year-old correspondent on “Kruiser Control” — even though (a) I have no role in hiring decisions at PJTV, (b) I am inarguably pro-eye candy, and (c) I’m probably not the only one who noticed that Kinsey Schofield’s publicity photo shows her with her shirt unbuttoned to display her right breast popping out of what appears to be a black lace push-up bra.

We are not supposed to notice such things nowadays or, at least, we are not supposed to publicly comment on them. And it doesn’t matter, by the way, whether we notice them favorably or unfavorably — whether we are pro-eye candy or anti-eye candy. Even as our culture has become increasingly sexualized, it has become increasingly taboo to acknowledge sexual differences. We are all supposed to be androgynously egalitarian in our attitudes, for to be otherwise is to discriminate, and everyone knows that discrimination is wrong.

To adapt a phrase from a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, “You have to be carefully taught” such beliefs, and we have been taught quite carefully indeed. The de rigeur denunciation of sexism, like the de rigeur denunciation of racism, is a conditioned response, a Skinnerian reflex. Anyone who critically examines these reflexes — who disassembles them into their component parts and asks why we react this way — can expect to be indicted for these Deadly Sins of the Post-Christian Era merely for questioning the categories.

Well, then: My response to the PJTV debut of Kinsey Schofield was brusquely cyncial and, when criticized for that response, I conducted my defense in a series of updates that were clearly in violation of Healey’s First Law of Holes.

Nevertheless, while Stephen Kruiser says that I have insulted him, I am prepared to argue that he has insulted me, by expecting me to accept uncritically his assertion that – out of 6 billion people on the planet – he hired a pretty girl without any regard for the fact that she is a pretty girl.

Not at all, Stephen says: “She’s a great writer.”

Fine, then: What has she written? Among other things, “How to Get Your Favorite Celebrity’s Attention via Twitter.”

I believe the word is “Heh.”

My point is not to criticize Kinsey Schofield’s writing. But there are many good writers – even arguably great writers — in Los Angeles who aren’t pretty 25-year-old girls.

With unbuttoned shirts and black lace push-up bras.

Perhaps the problem here is that Stephen Kruiser believes that I am accusing him of discrimination — and certainly I am, in the sense that it is discriminatory to believe that pretty girls fit “the McLuhanesque requirements of a visual medium.” But is it even necessary to say that I don’t consider such “discrimination” to be wrong? Does Stephen Kruiser think that I would admire and praise him for hiring a portly 50-year-old as his video sidekick?

Brusque, cynical, rude — I accept these criticisms. And to my sudden proliferation of Twitter critics, I promise to respond in detail, once I get around to hiring a pretty 25-year-old assistant to handle such things.

Now hurry up with that coffee, sweetheart. And make sure it’s fresh this time.

UPDATE: Sissy Willis got there a week ahead of me, noting some anti-Palin comments by the occupant of the Red Eye “leg chair.”

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Category: Feminism, Rule 5

Comments

  • http://twitter.com/jimmiebjr Jimmie

    Apparently, I’ve been taking the entirely wrong approach to my Twitter avatars.

  • http://twitter.com/SissyWillis Sissy Willis

    Oh, dear. I do think the gentleman doth protest too much. Poor lovesick boy trashed MOI a bit on twitter the other night (we finally worked it out) and dropped a little nastiness in the comments of a post of mine that mentioned the eye candy in question, calling my work a “‘People’”-esque hit piece masquerading as a political post.” Kind cool, now that I think of it. http://bit.ly/cUlrcZ

  • http://twitter.com/kshaidle Kathy Shaidle

    So PJTV finally hires a woman and it’s THAT girl. Wow, color me shocked!

    Here’s the bigger problem:

    How/why do “conservatives” accuse others (esp. other conservatives) of being “sexist” for the “crime” of stating the patently obvious, which is all RS McCain did.

    I didn’t think we believed in stupid crap like that.

    Oh wait: most “conservative men” are just careerist hacks/low tax liberals.

    My stupid female brain forgot for a sec!

  • http://twitter.com/KingstonJW Johnny Walker

    As a bald headed guy over 50 who is never likely to get a good paying blog position, it just seems a little too dangerous to make bra comments here. Can’t we talk about something less risky, like for instance global warming?

  • http://twitter.com/dustbury Charles G Hill

    Bras, however, have been proven to exist.

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  • cubachi

    LOL, Jimmie

  • http://pointofagun.blogspot.com/ Dave C

    I’m switching my avatar from my dog to Kinsey Schofield now.

  • http://twitter.com/SissyWillis Sissy Willis

    Thanks for the link! Great piece, by the way. Like love, truth hurts.

  • http://twitter.com/obis_sister Obi’s Sister

    Boys, boys. Surely we have better things to debate here. She’s a pretty girl, so what. Guys comments on other guy’s pretty girls all the time.

    Evidently the young Mr. Kruiser hasn’t seen the spine-tingling scene in Animal House, where the band asks, “Can we dance wid chore dates?”

  • dr kill

    I believe the correct term for Mr. Kruiser is maroon. I guess you can kiss that Instalanche good-bye.

  • http://theothermccain.com smitty

    Though the odds are good that the goods are odd within some of them.

  • http://theothermccain.com smitty

    But was it necessary for the truth to be delivered to me in a Greyhound driven by Stevie, I wonder?

  • http://ensigntaiga.wordpress.com/ ensigntaiga

    Hmm, I first, I thought Stacy was being a little childish in his appraisal of that situation… until I was directed at reading the young gal’s writing. I enjoy her on Red Eye and don’t doubt that she’ll be good on webcasts on PJTV, but her available work isn’t impressive enough to substantiate Kruiser’s beef with Stacy. Stacy wins this one IMO.

  • bow chica wow wow

    Would it be wong of me to ask if the PJTV videos of the writer in question are in the “Members Only” section?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=705855851 Joy McCann

    Stacy, this is what might be offensive, if I truly gave a shit about this “debate”–

    “Certainly, the plaintiffs in these cases believe that TV news discriminates against older women as on-air personalities. And thank goodness for that. Otherwise we might turn on our TVs and see the news delivered by a cast of grizzled Helen Thomas lookalikes.”

    Because there is a world of difference between a woman who looks like she may be past college age–old enough, that is, to have a thought in her head–and “grizzled Helen Thomas lookalikes,” or “portly 50-year-olds.” (Really? If Kruiser had managed to recruit the Margaret Thatcher of the 1980s, you’d be all, like, “ewwwww”?)

    I can’t get upset about this, because primarily you’re just calling a trowel a trowel (at least from what I see here in this post).

    But the denigration of middle-aged women may not endear you to middle-aged women who do, in fact, occasionally have a thought in their heads.

  • http://mrnewyorkcity.blogspot.com Lifeofthemind

    Kinsey Schofield’s picture should be one click accessible whenever Helen Thomas is mentioned, like an emergency eyewash station.

    BTW is Miss Schofield related to Lt General John Schofield, for whom the Army barracks in Honolulu were named?
    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/John_M_Schofield_by_CM_Bell%2C_c1860s.JPG/225px-John_M_Schofield_by_CM_Bell%2C_c1860s.JPG

    That should reassure nervous conservatives.

  • http://mrnewyorkcity.blogspot.com Lifeofthemind

    Kinsey Schofield’s picture should be one click accessible whenever Helen Thomas is mentioned, like an emergency eyewash station.

    BTW is Miss Schofield related to Lt General John Schofield, for whom the Army barracks in Honolulu were named?
    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/66/John_M_Schofield_by_CM_Bell%2C_c1860s.JPG/225px-John_M_Schofield_by_CM_Bell%2C_c1860s.JPG

    That should reassure nervous conservatives.

  • Mrs. The Other McCain

    Stac,
    when you do hire a 25 year old assistant, could you make sure she gets the dishes done and that laundry folded before I get home from work. :)
    Thanks

  • ThomasD

    Well, that’s one way to get him to do the dishes and the laundry…

  • http://twitter.com/stephenkruiser stephenkruiser

    I had no beef with your original post until I read the last line. You were making a some valid points up until then but you couldn’t resist getting in a personal dig against Kinsey to finish things off. It wasn’t really germane to what you were trying to say and came off as very petty. The post Sissy Willis wrote the week before could have been about Karl Rove as much as Kinsey Schofield and that made it seem petty too.

    Kinsey is the rarest of people for us on the right: a young, attractive and marketable conservative in the entertainment industry. You and Sissy are seriously fucked in the head for needlessly exposing her to ridicule. The things that people are obviously jealous of-her looks and youth-are two things she has no control over. She should be getting positively promoted on your blogs rather than being torn down.

    I’m going to be kind and not go into detail about the Psych 101 stuff that I am sure motivated each of you to post what you did. I’m sure anyone paying the slightest bit of attention can figure it out. If Kinsey had actually done something offensive in either case I would say “Have at it.” But she’s only guilty of looking good on camera.

    And that seems to bring a host of insecurities out in others.

  • http://twitter.com/stephenkruiser stephenkruiser

    Clever. In a totally not clever way. Keep up the dickless, anonymous trolling!

  • http://twitter.com/stephenkruiser stephenkruiser

    Yes! Let’s rip apart the occasional young conservative we find in Hollywood. BRILLIANT.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=705855851 Joy McCann

    Having made my way over to the original post, I have a better idea of what’s going on. Stacy has another case of . . . being Stacy. So, I’ll spank him if the other conservative ladies won’t. This is what I posted there:

    “Implying that a woman must be an airhead based strictly on her good looks is sexist and ungentlemanly. You do, on occasion, cross the line from lighthearted fun to offensive–and in a hot Washington D.C. minute.

    The world of social media doesn’t necessarily prefer essayists over those who can “think on their feet.” You have to have a quick mind for radio, or the sort of thing PJTV does. Some people can do both, but it’s very different from writing in the long form.

    And no one is saying that this lady isn’t hot. But can you entertain the possibility that she’s more than a walking pair of breasts?

    If the girl is a regular on Red Eye, and she’s worked with Adam Carolla, she’s no lightweight–Gutfeld and Carolla are bright men. Get a grip, here: just because you’re fine with notoriety over respect doesn’t mean other people are as well.”

    He’s just being Stacy–but it can be grade-A tiresome. There was no call to imply that the girl wasn’t smart, or was somehow lacking in analytical skills.

    Be a gentleman, Stace, and apologize for that part of it. If someone had ever said that about Hannah Giles, you would have called them on it because you know her and you know her family. This woman has family too, and that smeary part was uncalled-for.

  • dr kill

    Nice. But you forgot to add the refusing-to-follow-the-log -in-sos-I-can-comment at PJM. Bwwwaahhhhhhh. Log in, sign up Bwaaahhhhh

  • http://twitter.com/SissyWillis Sissy Willis

    Dearest Stephen: As we dis-gust on twitter this morning, you are projecting again. I don’t mind. Boys will be boys, but I do love Mrs. The Other McCain’s comments (above) best of all.

  • dr kill

    And another thing, young man. My comments are generally considered hilarious, eagerly awaited around these parts.
    For a comedian, you don’t have much of a sense of humor.

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  • http://ensigntaiga.wordpress.com/ ensigntaiga

    I think is she is going to promote herself as a social media savant, she ought to attain some thicker skin. What Stacy and Sissy said won’t compare in the slightest to the sort of criticism she’ll get from the left, if she continues to gain more fame and notoriety. And if she continues down that course, and publishes and produces quality work while doing so, I don’t have any doubt that Stacy, Sissy and everyone else would defend her.

    Also, I don’t think being a rare commodity should be a shield from any criticism at all. To my eye, this all looks like extreme overreacting to comments that were, at worst, a little bit crass.

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  • Derek

    Formerly a fame whore, Kinsey woke up one day and decided that she wants to be a political correspondent! This girl is a piece of work! She gets offended at bloggers calling her out for exactly what she is: eye candy. If you don’t want people to call you out, maybe you should cover up your breasts sweetheart! Just a thought. Oh and we can add hypocrite to the list as well. Kinsey was interviewed on thesmokingjacket.com as a Ballbreaker where she berated Meghan McCain for posting revealing pictures of her cleavage. Um Kinsey, HELLO! What about the random cleavage bearing pictures on your website and floating around the web? Yet Schofield turned down Playboy because she us such a good Christian. Hmmm! Maybe you should stop doing such racy photo shoots if you want people to take you seriously. I expect that Kinsey and her over-protective mommy Kim will be posting back to tell me how jealous I am, or what an insecure jerk I am. Kinsey will mention that she is smart because she was on the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine (you were in the corner of the cover dear), and that she is special because she has 40,000 followers on Twitter (on an unverified account). She will probably also say something about me being obsessed with her. That seems to be Kinsey’s favorite comeback these days for anyone with less than positive praise for her. I have no problem with Kinsey, except for the fact that this girl wants people to take her seriously, yet she presents herself as a giggly school girl bimbo type. You can’t have your cake and eat it too, hun. Make up your mind!

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  • mike

    Right on, Mr. McCain. Don’t give any heed to these ridiculous PC ninnies. Sounds like this lady thinks she can have her cake and eat it too.

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