The New Agenda defends Claire McCaskill from sexist slur
September 20, 2008
by Violet Socks, Editor
|The New Agenda has fired off a letter to James Taranto at the Wall Street Journal about his use of the word “shrill” in reference to Sen. Claire McCaskill.
In the article “Hackers and Hacks” on September 18, Taranto described McCaskill’s “very shrill anti-Palin remarks.”
Sen. McCaskill may be critical of Gov. Palin, but “shrill”? As we noted in our letter:
[T]he word “shrill” has a very negative connotation when used to describe a woman or a woman’s voice. The term has recently been used by the media as a purposeful weapon against female candidates, although never male candidates.
One of the things we’re absolutely committed to here at The New Agenda is changing the tone of the culture. We’re all fed up with women politicians being held to a different standard and subjected to misogynistic slurs. Aren’t you?
I know your right to defend her; but after all she’s done it’s tough to watch.
I know I am
Excellent work! You have my support & admiration.
I agree with and support this action. I’d add that use of the word “shrill” has been employed against myriad people seeking a voice in our national discourse, and it always is intended to cast a feminine pall to the accused. It’s a way to suggest weakness.
“Shrill” is defined as sounding like a high or low note according to Wikipedia. Spend some time on imporant issues that matter to women and men like the next Supreme Court Justice, or the War in Iraq, or affordable health care, or equal pay, or the economy, or the US is so supportive of the Israeli occupation that we are responsible for the daily misery of Palestinians, or the fact if enough women forget the issues and support Sarah Palin because the media picks on her…well, what do you think might happen?. How many of you really want McCain-Pailn to get elected??? THAT IS THE ISSUE. Start the New Agenda after the election.
Alvis,
We are meeting with/speaking with the Obama Campaign this week. As well, we are in the process of setting up a meeting or call with the Green Party reps today. We have continuing dialogue with the McCain Campaign.
Our goal is to advance our platform of women’s issues AHEAD of the election to focus all candidates on these important women’s issues.
You folks really want to FCC to get involved when a pundit uses the word shrill? Are you out of your mind? ( I know this post is about a print article, but your GOAL is to force the FCC to police sexist comments on TV)
Turn off the TV. Don’t buy the WSJ. Use your consumer power to put them out of business.
But please rethink the notion of lobbying the government /FCC to become the arbiter of what is sexist speech. It would not be good for women or freedom of speech.
No, not all women agree with the agenda you’ve put forth. You need to do some serious critical thinking about that agenda you’ve published…
Amy,
Thanks for your response. Does this mean the New Agenda might come out and support one side the Democratic or Republican ticket? Perhaps the Green Party? Do you endorse candidates?
Sharon,
Good question. I think if you read more clearly, you will see that you misunderstood what was written.
We are not asking the FCC to ban the word shrill. We are asking each candidate to give us their plan. For example, should the word “bitch” be spoken quite frequently on MSM during prime time? There are many ways of dealing with this issue and we are fortunate to count amongst our founders, civil rights attorneys.
But again, we are asking each candidate for his or her plan (we are in dialogue with the Democratic, Republican and Green Party candidate).
Alvis,
Negative. We are NOT endorsing a candidate in the presidential election.
We are, however, in open dialogue with 3 parties so far about women’s issues listed under “goals” on this website.
How DARE women speak in higher voices. How dare they speak at all! Shrill! shrill! shrill! Must complain about shrillness on prime time, better still, get women to be quiet.
While we’re at it, old people! Wrinkles! Black people! Skin! Must single out these characteristics for ridicule! Cannot relax without young white male talking heads.
No more women talking!
I share the objections to the word “shrill” which has clearly become code for “that b—-” when spoken or written about a woman. Or in trying to diminish a mae candidate by tagging him with a ‘girlie’ term.
I applaud the efforts to call journalists on the word shrill. The coverage reeked with anti-woman sentiment – tho people tiptoed around racially charged terms in the MSM – and needs to be cleaned up. This is a wat toward that goal.
Sharon, I agree that we can all just turn off or stop reading coverage we don’t like. But without sending a message via this group or others, or speaking out yourself, the action isn’t as powerful.
I suggest we go after the advertisers on MSNBC. I’m a mom with a long list of things to buy each month. I wonder if my patronage is worth anything to the many businesses I shop. They need to know I will not support companies that fund Chris Matthews female-bashing fests.
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