Age, Disgracefully
10/04/08 06:13
In today's LA Times
"Top of the Ticket" blog, Andrew Malcolm discusses
suspected fallout from Oprah Winfrey's aggressive
endorsement and campaigning for Barack Obama. He
mentions her age in the second paragraph (54).
Fine.
Later in the piece, he refers to her as "the aging empress of TV." Now since when does the mainstream media consider 54 to be the onset of decrepitude? Tim Russert is in his late 50s. I don't recall seeing him referred to as "the aging emperor of political TV." The very idea seems laughable.
Only a woman would be called out--accused, as it were--of "aging" due to turning 54. Aimed at women, "aging" is an epithet, somewhere just south of "bitch."
A blogger once noted a pundit referring to Mitt Romney (60) as a "young man." He then wondered why no one had yet called Hillary Clinton a "young woman."
We call it "Rampant Sexism."
Later in the piece, he refers to her as "the aging empress of TV." Now since when does the mainstream media consider 54 to be the onset of decrepitude? Tim Russert is in his late 50s. I don't recall seeing him referred to as "the aging emperor of political TV." The very idea seems laughable.
Only a woman would be called out--accused, as it were--of "aging" due to turning 54. Aimed at women, "aging" is an epithet, somewhere just south of "bitch."
A blogger once noted a pundit referring to Mitt Romney (60) as a "young man." He then wondered why no one had yet called Hillary Clinton a "young woman."
We call it "Rampant Sexism."