A new media pressure group called “Name It.Change It.” has gone online with the mission to stomp out forms of speech that feminists disagree with. Sponsored by Gloria Steinem’s Women’s Media Center, the group features a large, interactive “Pyramid of Egregiousness” that categorizes sexist statements according to severity. The pyramid appears to be based on the USDA food guide pyramid, with the really juicy words, including “slut,” “cougar,” and “feminazi” being the chocolate mousse of sexism, less obvious words such as “PMS” and “nagging” the roast beef, and banal, potentially sexist words like “temperamental” and “high maintenance” the oatmeal version of misogyny.
Although I find the categorizations rather arbitrary, I tend to agree that one should use the heaviest, most larded words sparingly when referring to feminists, as overindulgence might lead to a red-faced, flabby, atherosclerotic rant as opposed to a lean, efficient refutation of feminist dogma.
However, in a “Statement on Equality,” Steinem takes it a step farther, providing a proscriptive treatise aimed directly at those in media. Like a grade school teacher, or, more menacingly, a commissar, she lays out the correct manner in which to speak:
The most workable definition of equality for journalists is reversibility. Don’t mention her young children unless you would also mention his, or describe her clothes unless you would describe his, or say she’s shrill or attractive unless the same adjectives would be applied to a man. Don’t say she’s had facial surgery unless you say he dyes his hair or has hair plugs. Don’t say she’s just out of graduate school but he’s a rising star. Don’t say she has no professional training but he worked his way up. Don’t ask her if she’s running as a women’s candidate unless you ask him if he’s running as a men’s candidate; ask both about the gender gap, the women’s vote.
Clearly media people had better listen; if they break the rules the equality police will come after them…
The group absurdly claims that the media is oppressing women, and cherry-picks a few statements made by political commentators to create a video, featured on the home page, in which a couple floppy-haired manginas and an equine feminist (see, Gloria, I used “reversibility”) parody sexism in the media:
I wonder where they find these guys.
It remains to be seen whether these heavy handed and offensive tactics (e.g. graphically describing torrential menstruation) will have the desired effect, but if grassroots media is any indication NameIt.Change It. will be fighting an uphill battle. Widespread revulsion for feminism and what it has done is leading to more – not less – openness on the airwaves, and even on television. Although those at the very top of the media hierarchy will likely go along with the drive to censor speech, they are increasingly losing control of the national dialogue.
