Nice job Prez! Kathleen Hanna must be proud - girls to the front!
Also: cue sound of a million MRA heads exploding.
“As the president took questions from reporters before setting off for vacation in Hawaii, he electrified the Twittersphere by doing something entirely unexpected and unprecedented: He only took questions from women.
After a brief comment on the economy, Obama fielded queries on the Sony cyber attacks, Cuba and more from eight women — and no men:
The deliberate decision to call on only female reporters was a subtle gesture but a big deal. While there is no shortage of talented women in political journalism, like in many other sectors they’re often crowded out of highly ranked and conspicuous positions due to individual and institutional prejudice.
"The fact is, there are many women from a variety of news organizations who day in and day out do the hard work of covering the president of the United States," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said after Obama’s press conference. “As the questioner list started to come together, we realized that we had a unique opportunity to highlight that fact at the president’s closely watched, end-of-the-year news conference.”
Read the full story here
Author’s Note: after posting this, I realized how this is a more nuanced topic than usual so I wanted to add a note.
If you are one of the readers seeing this news and thinking - “well that isn’t fair / two wrongs don’t make a right / reverse sexism” - let me help you process this situation.
First: admit to yourself that historically and currently, in every state in the U.S. - I can’t speak for other countries - there are boards / councils / departments / etc. that are 100% men. If you find yourself upset by today’s event, ask yourself why you haven’t been bothered by the ongoing injustice in favor of men. Are you REALLY bothered by abstract injustice, or just bothered that men didn’t get their say this one time?
Second: recognize that the world will live if once in a while we listen to women, and women who aren’t being interrupted or corrected by men. Let’s give them a listen. Hear what they have to say. The world won’t explode. Civilization will end. You can deal with it. Grow up.
And there you have it! Bottom line - it’s OK to listen to women, and if you’re really freaking out about this, look in the mirror to see what’s really bothering you.
That is exactly the same as if he ignored white people and only took questions from black people. It's the same thing as only taking questions from men. It's the same thing as only taking questions from tall people. It's the same thing as only taking questions from people who are disabled. It's discrimination.
