Imus is not alone, April 12, 2007
Watching the news yesterday, I was reminded of a story told by Senator Hillary Clinton at the recent EMILY's List luncheon. In March of 1999, when she was struggling to decide whether to run for the U.S. Senate and facing widespread doubts and criticism of her potential bid, she attended an event to celebrate a new documentary on Title IX called "Dare to Compete". The captain of a local women's basketball team introduced Clinton and when she came to podium, this young woman athlete leaned over and whispered in Clinton's ear -- "dare to compete, Mrs. Clinton, dare to compete." The inspirational words spurred Clinton to defy the naysayers and become the first woman elected to the Senate from New York.
Hearing the poisonous comments made by Don Imus about the Rutgers basketball team showed once again what is faced by women who dare to compete. His derogatory and hateful words were not just racist but equally vicious for their degrading and sexist content. Imus engaged in a classic and all too common effort to degrade women based on their sexual attractiveness, describing the Tennessee team as "all cute" compared to the "rough" women from Rutgers bearing "tattoos."
Don Imus and his fellow sexists appear to be threatened by the power of women and attack their femininity and sexuality in order to diminish their accomplishments and deny them the opportunities that their hard work and talent deserve. This kind of hate speech does not stop on the playing field. In the world of politics, public figures spew invectives ranging from dismissive to degrading and their behavior seems to have become all too common as women have risen to new levels of power and prominence.
Just last month, nationally syndicated radio host Glenn Beck called Senator Clinton "the stereotypical bitch." And in a moment only his therapist might understand, MSNBC's Tucker Carlson described Senator Clinton as "castrating, over bearing and scary."
When Speaker Nancy Pelosi achieved a new height for women, new lows were seen in the attempts to trivialize her accomplishments with discussions of pearls and commentary on every outfit. Sometimes the commentary is more than belittling. <a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200704060017">CNN, echoing Republican attacks on Speaker Pelosi's recent trip to Syria</a>, invoked the Girls Gone Wild videos multiple times to describe the behavior of the first woman to serve as Speaker as she met with the President of Syria.
On the campaign trail, we often see women candidates belittled and dismissed. For example in 2006 we saw women described as "nothing but a pretty face" (John Sweeney is out of office now) or an "old Mother Hubbard" (Don Schaeffer also lost). While voters occasionally revolt against such sexist behavior, as in the cases of Sweeney and Schaeffer, all too often their sexist insults go without rebuke.
The slap on the wrist that Don Imus has received thus far only serves as a further example of the media's tolerance for this kind of hate speech. Watching the grace and eloquence of the Rutgers women, seeing these strong, powerful student athletes unbowed, I wonder why Tucker, Beck and others are not receiving the same censure.
However, I take hope in the fact that women across the country, faced with the same hate-filled attacks, still dare to compete. These are the women who inspired EMILY's List and who teach us to show our power in all its forms and fight those who would impose low expectations on our high hopes.
Ramona