That’s the charge being laid by conservative bloggers and NOW (!) about this week’s cover photo of Michele Bachmann, which depicts her as she so often appears with wide eyes. I obviously don’t agree, having blogged about it here earlier. It’s an actual photo – not doctored – that is not unlike so many of Bachmann. Like Pelosi, Bachmann is often seen with a wild, wide-eyed look as shown on the Newsweek cover.
“It’s sexist,” NOW president Terry O’Neill told TheDC. “Casting her in that expression and then adding ‘The Queen of Rage’ I think [it is]. Gloria Steinem has a very simple test: If this were done to a man or would it ever be done to a man – has it ever been done to a man? Surely this has never been done to a man.”
While some have pointed out that Newsweek has used unflattering photos of men such as Rush Limbaugh and John McCain on its cover, O’Neill says that is not the issue.
“Who has ever called a man ‘The King of Rage?’
My feeling is that NOW diminishes actual sexism with this charge about the Bachmann cover. There are far more insidious examples of sexism and violence in the media against women and men to rail against. Michele Bachmann inspires rage in her subjects and she has a wide-eyed look at the world. It’s reality not sexism.
Cross posted at Sister Sage’s Musings.