Slate Editor David Plotz responds to The New Agenda
October 6, 2008
by Sheryl Lee
|October 6, 2008
Thanks for your note, and I’m sorry the article troubled you. Perrotta’s piece is insightful, witty, and provocative. He clearly separates the sexual sites from Palin, and no reasonable reader could possibly claim he was imputing their provocations to her. As to the larger issue of Palin’s sex appeal, only someone living in a cave for the past month could deny that it is an important element in her appeal. Conservative commentators talk about her sex appeal all the time, and with great enthusiasm; Within the McCain campaign itself they call her the VPILF. Perrotta has pointed out what is obvious to every single person who has analyzed her effect on the race—pointed out what her most avid supporters are saying about her.
Needless to say, we will not be removing it or altering it.
Sincerely,
David Plotz
~o~o~o~o~o~o~
October 5, 2008
David Plotz
Editor
Slate Magazine
Dear Mr. Plotz,
The New Agenda (www.thenewagenda.net) is a non-partisan women’s rights advocacy group with men and women members nationwide. The New Agenda monitors news coverage, blogs, print media, as well as statements by political pundits, political campaigns and other commentators for sexist bias, derogatory language, misogynist attacks, and denigrating statements about women.
The New Agenda strongly objects to an article by Tom Perotta published in Slate on Friday, September 26, entitled, “The Sexy Puritan.” The article, which purports to examine Governor Palin’s impact as a “powerful new Christian right archetype” is capped by an illustration of Palin in high heels, perched on a stool, with her breasts popping out of her skimpy dress and a bible squeezed between her bare thighs. This article and the accompanying illustration were also featured prominently on Slate’s front page on Saturday, October 4.
In his article, Perrotta claims that as a “Sexy Puritan,” Governor Palin is a “particular type of woman” who “engage[s] in the culture war” by “advocating conservative positions” and by “embodying nonthreatening mainstream standards of female beauty and behavior,” thus providing “a little thrill along with your traditional values.” Perrotta supports his theory about “Sexy Puritans” by citing a sex blog called “Christian Nymphos,” “whose authors,” he says, “offer candid how-to advice on anal sex, fisting, and ‘masturbating for your husband.’”
Perrotta states, “There’s a sophisticated strategy of co-optation at work here—not so different from the one employed by Christian rock bands that look and sound almost exactly like their secular counterparts—an attempt to separate ‘sexiness,’ which is both cool and permissible, from actual sex, which is not.”
With this claim, Perrotta implies that Governor Palin has cultivated “sexiness” in service of her conservative Christian agenda. This is tantamount to claiming that she is “asking for” the graphic sexual imagery which he uses to illustrate his point. There is the implication that by “engaging in the culture war,” as he claims Palin is doing, she is associating herself with the sexualized women whom he describes in the article.. In truth, Governor Palin has done nothing to warrant such spurious comparisions, and Perrotta is merely employing the time-honored tactic of using gratuitous and vulgar sexual imagery to demean and discredit a woman in a position of power while implying that she is complicit in her own degradation.
After referencing the sex bloggers to support his argument, Perrotta disingenuously claims, “God knows, I’m not trying to link Palin to the Christian Nymphos; I’m only trying to locate her within the context of the great American culture war.” In fact, linking Palin to the Christian Nymphos, and to “anal sex, fisting, and ‘masturbating for your husband,’” is precisely what Perrotta is doing.
It is unconscionable for a mainstream publication such as Slate Magazine to provide a forum to discuss sexual acts in relation to a political figure who has done nothing to invite such discussion. In actuality, Mr. Plotz, it was you who opened up this avenue of discussion about Governor Palin when, in your Slate article of September 9 entitled, “I Dream About Sarah Palin. Do You?”, you wrote that a couple of men you know “have mentioned that they’ve been having sexual fantasies about the Alaska governor.” “I’m sure they’re not alone,” you added.
There is nothing in Governor Palin’s dress or demeanor that is sexually suggestive; however, in the follow-up article to your own, a number of the men whose dreams you published contain sexual or romantic images of Palin, and a quick Google search turns up two other instances where Tom Perrotta introduced the subject of anal sex in his own novels.. Clearly, anal sex a subject to which Perrotta has devoted some thought.
Have you no shame, Mr. Plotz? As the editor of Slate Magazine, you are responsible for its content, and it is our opinion at The New Agenda that your publishing of articles of this nature about Governor Palin is a calculated attempt to demean her, perhaps in order to compensate for the fact that, as your wrote in your own article, “night after night, she appears in my dreams, always as a scolding, ominous figure.” It should be apparent to all that your and Perrotta’s visions of Sarah Palin have everything to do with your own imaginations, and nothing to do with the actual woman.
We realize that this is not the first time that Slate Magazine has diminished its reputation by publishing bigoted material, but we at The New Agenda hope that you and Slate Magazine will reconsider the publication of such degrading, sexist content in the future. We request that you meet with representatives of our organization in order that we may clarify our concerns.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
The New Agenda
Dear New Agenda team,
I love what you’re doing in confronting the overwhelming sexism that exists in every fabric of American society.
However, I think such article as the one written by Slate Magazine deserves a more stern response. I realize women are still expected to be “sugar and spice and everythign nice” when dealing with men, but let’s put this in perspective.
Imagine how Jessie Jackson or Al Sharpton would have responded to Slate Magazine if they had written such a blatant racist article.
That’s how you should respond too!
Arrogance, thy last name is Plotz!
“Within the McCain campaign itself they call her the VPILF”
I would demand Mr. Plotz substantiate this allegation.
What a vile man.
all the rest of the guys are doing it…
i am surprised and dismayed by the response. unfortunate.
I donot understand the idea he states that conservatives say she is sexy. I think she is nice looking so what? I also this Hillary dresses classy and I look at what she is wearing and how her hair is, big deal. This MAN must have some sort of fantasy. Maybe he is not either interested in women at all or he has had strong women like Sen Hillary and Sarah Palin snub him. I suppose the later…I know my daughter would.
Very, very well stated! Many men regard her as wholesome and decent and can think with their brain, not their penis. What a slam on men, Plotz.
Not surprised here. I think we should expect that more people will feel empowered to say and write sexist and misogynist things about women and expect to do it with impunity. I also think that in the wake of the 2008 elections we will see more sexual harassment of women both in the workplace and in our schools and colleges. The word is out that women are fair game.
Good grief, what a condescending, pat on the head reply from Plotz.
“As to the larger issue of Palin’s sex appeal, only someone living in a cave for the past month could deny that it is an important element in her appeal……” D. Plotz
Allow me to say it again: what a slam on men, Plotz. Talk about living in a cave……..
I think samanthasmom may be onto something here. In a year where Hilary Clinton was abandoned and discarded by her party for a new, fresh male face and Palin has been diminished and ridiculed FOR her new, fresh female face – WITH THE PARTICIPATORY APPROVAL OF SO-CALLED TRADITIONAL FEMINISTS, YET!!! – we will look forward to many years of having to try to undo this damage. Teenage girls are bombarded with more and more harmful images in the media and see what happens to women who have higher aspirations than becoming actors or models.
You are sexualized and then you are invisible. And men like Plotz engage in self gratifying exercises like this in the name of “journalism”, which, like true feminism, died in 2008…
Obviously you’ve irritated Mr. Plotz with your pettiness and lack of sophistication. Stop it right now. After all he would know whether or not the article is sexist. Has he not risen to the heights of journalistic excellence that is Slate.
Here is Plotz’s email address: David.Plotz@slate.com – let him know how you feel!
We had sent an action alert on this to our members. If you are not a member yet, please consider joining us.
Thank you, New Agenda, for speaking up on all our behalves.
It is beyond me why the major publications don’t include the simple sentence in their style guides, “Do not employ sexist terms or images if you would not use the racist equivalent.” It is such a simple principle, courteous and fair, and does not sacrifice one group’s dignity for another.
I’m not American. I’ll be a dedicated reader and send frequent virtual bouquets. Unless your name is Plotz.
But you have my admiration and thanks for this site.
Oh it’s better to e-mail the publisher (or whatever it’s called on an e-zine). Plotz will just spam everything. Better yet, e-mail a couple major Slate advertisers.
Thank you, NewAgenda, for your excellent letter to David Plotz. I sent my own letter, yesterday, as well.
Poor Plotz. He, very simply, does not get it, does he? Sigh. To have a neanderthal mind in 2008. Pathetic.
I feel a bit helpless patiently pointing out sexist and demeaning images of women to smug male editors and broadcasters who just insist that we are wrong.
Glad New Agenda is on the case. Maybe as a group we can get somewhere.
Would they run a sketch of NoBama in a watermelon field? Or Lieberman in some anti-Jewish pose? No – and they shouldn’t.
Why is it that sexism can just be brushed off?? I am baffled and discouraged.
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