Sunday, May 4, 2008

Sexism is alive and well

On Friday, April 25, 2008 there appeared two articles, side by side, on the front page of the Providence Journal's Rhode Island section.

One article was about David McCullough's talk at Bryant University. Just imagine if the reporter had written something like:

McCullough, who has won Pulitzer Prizes for his biographies of presidents Harry Truman and John Adams, has snow white hair and was wearing a brown single breasted suit, blue tie and grey shirt and wing tipped shoes, told his audience, "When you examine their lives you find a common thread."

The other article covered Lorraine Bracco's talk at the Westin about her depression, a serious topic indeed. In this description your reporter writes:

"...she realized that she was suffering from a deep depression. "The vortex had a hold on me," said the actress, who has shoulder-length brown hair, and wore a tailored charcoal-colored pantsuit and spike heeled open-toed sandals.

How demeaning and insulting to women and the message.