IMHO, regardless of whether she felt compelled to defend them, her coworker shouldn’t stay silent when he’s the one who messed up. It’s great she apparently wasn’t offended by what he did, but he insulted women in general, not just her body in particular.
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And this is where things get really tricky. Because yes, I’m sure she has a great rapport with her co-workers, lots of playful banter, and they were probably all approximately on the same page inside that studio. Thinking nothing of it.
But outside that studio, a thousand little warning sirens went off, a potential EXAMPLE was spotted, and those who believe they know how the meteorologist and her coworkers SHOULD feel about the situation sought to intervene and educate them on their unknowingness.
Slut-shaming is real and deplorable. And the culture that led the meteorologist and her coworkers to see this as a light-hearted joke (based upon very backwards ideas about “appropriateness”) is probably so deeply ingrained among them that they didn’t see a problem at all.
So what’s right? Is it right that the news team is content among themselves to not feel troubled by their gag? Is it right that the Culture At Large should point and demand acknowledgment of an injustice, and try to force the meteorologist to recognize that she is complicit in a culture that says she “needs to cover up”?
Is it right that I feel a little nervous even asking these questions on the internet?
I have no answers, unfortunately. When I watched that clip, I felt a little queasy inside. Then I read her own statement, which didn’t sound forced or contrived at all, and felt better.
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Might be. Also might be she meant what she said.
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I’m glad she wasn’t a party to the sexist joke - though I didn’t think she was since she seemed genuinely surprised by the bit - but what her coworker did still amounts to on-air performance sexism.
The Billy Corgans of the world will doubtless sound off about how this is political correctness run amok and this guy’s career is over. But no, that’s pointing to a minority of opinions and pretending it’s the entirety of the criticism. This guy made a sexist joke on the air. People calling him out on it and asking for a public apology (not to her, that’s between them, but to the public) isn’t beyond the pale.
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And I’m with you there–it was unequivocally sexist, the whole thing. I just sometimes wonder if the feelings of the person at the center of the “joke” shouldn’t count for something. Yeah, we think it’s kind of disgusting what they did. But if she’s just shrugging and genuinely doesn’t care, should there be a firestorm to follow? Is it about saving people from themselves?
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I felt a little better after reading her statement, too, but it’s still not a very funny joke. Hopefully the uproar has given them something to ponder–like, before making a joke, take a moment to think, “What exactly are we meant to be laughing about?”[quote=“Mark_Sniadecki, post:42, topic:78120”]
. . . the culture that led the meteorologist and her coworkers to see this as a light-hearted joke (based upon very backwards ideas about “appropriateness”) is probably so deeply ingrained among them that they didn’t see a problem at all.
[/quote]
I think that’s probably right, which is why people felt the need to point it out. Because if there’s a problem you don’t see, and nobody else ever tells you, it’s not likely to get fixed.
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It’s her prerogative to decide he doesn’t need to apologize to her. That’s fine. And while I agree with the people saying we live in a culture where not pushing back is the easier path by far, I do agree we need to respect her right to decide whether or not he insulted her. But he did this in a very public venue and he insulted women’s bodies in general. I don’t think a firestorm should follow. I do think he owes an apology to women who were offended by his failed attempt at humor.
Maybe that’s part of the problem, this false idea that asking for an apology is starting a firestorm.
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When she asked why, the man who handed her the sweater told her, “We’re getting a lot of emails.”
I’m glad that so many people IMMEDIATELY understood how ridiculous and sexist this was. This is the perfect example of a micro-aggression–it’s not ruining her life or sabotaging her career; it’s just making her life a little shittier for a cheap laugh. As unfortunate as the incident was, at least it shows people by and large get why this is a bad thing.
I was going to say “SHOTS FIRED!” but this sad little “comedian” she shares the stage with isn’t important enough.
After donning the sweater, Chan unhappily commented that she “looked like a librarian.”
SHOTS FIRED!
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This reminds me of this:
She should show up in a new costume everyday for the weather. Start with the classic Puritan, then Nun, and then mix it up from there. The only logical end after like 2 weeks of this would be a fursuit with the original dress.
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Oh, I know. I’m just being a gadfly here… there are questions of perspective I wonder about. The personal versus the community. The immediate reality of an individual versus the bigger story of us all…
So, the bit I quoted from you above–that could be the same as a very, very religious person coming up to a lovely heathen like me and saying “By the way, you can’t see this because you’re assimilated into the ways of sin, BUT what you’re doing right now is leading you toward eternal damnation. I need to show you the light. I need to show you why you need to repent and throw off this wrong-headed culture you follow.”
If someone said that to me, I’d blink and walk away. And if she and her coworkers have had a happy, productive time together in the studio, and she’s not harboring any frustrations, she has no reason to change her reaction. So in the end, we are using her, to make a point to the rest of the world. We are earnestly saying: don’t treat women like this–in some cases, passionately making that statement, angrily even–but at the center of it all, this one person has ceased to matter in the story. She’s just living her life.
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I like that. Now THAT is an interesting thought.
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I think you mean “LA news show slut-shames weather forecaster” My first read of “LA news show slut shames weather forecaster” gave me the completely wrong impression. 
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At first glance, I also read those first four words as a noun phrase. That would be something different for one’s CV.
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I can’t speak for anyone other than myself, but I don’t think she ceased to matter. I just think this guy did something cluelessly sexist in a very public forum, and that amounts to a public statement about women’s bodies. I don’t think it makes him a bad or sad person, just someone who acted a fool before a large and growing audience. Showing he got a clue from the criticism he’s received is both the minimum he owes the people offended and a stand-up thing to do.
It’s not like we’re asking a lot of him. A simple apology costs him literally nothing.
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I suppose I meant “her will ceases to matter,” though a person and their will are essentially the same thing in my mind.
For the record, I do hope a very public apology follows, with no reprisals visited upon her employment status or general treatment.
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I’m ashamed at this group for jumping on @Moth for stating the obvious. Six replies and they’re all snarky, what-do-you-know-it’s-gotta-be-something-horrible-and-we’re-the-only-ones-who-know-it. Well, phooey on y’all. Something like this, on a big-market LA station (this isn’t the third-string that works in Peoria), is for show, for ratings. It wasn’t a joke, because it lacked the setup and the punchline. But I believe the story that it was an ad-lib by her co-anchor, who knew she’d changed outfits from the 6am hit.
Jeez, every little thing in this world doesn’t have to be the sky falling. Let’s keep our powder dry for the things that really matter, huh?
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This incident is proof that American men are cowards. This is what real men do…
https://www.google.com/search?q=australian+anchor+wears+same+suit+for+a+year
(For anyone reading this who is too dense to get it … Real men speak out. Real men protest. Real men take every opportunity they can to highlight the fucking hypocrisy.)
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I will probably get in trouble for this, but it seems most news anchors and weather people are selected for their looks. And they are often blonde, young and attractive. So, this is only an issue if
you ignore the “looksism” of most news casting. (PBS is the exception).
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Let’s translate the “joke” explanation a few degrees down the chart.
“It’s okay I called him a fag on the air because Big Gay Al is cool with it and is a good sport.”
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