Thursday, June 12, 2008

FYI - Fox News (and others who may not know), a married woman is not a Baby Mama


I didn't see the movie Baby Mama with Tina Fey. I heard it was funny.

What is not so funny is Fox "News" calling Michelle Obama, Barack's baby mama. Let me break it down. Baby Mama is slang for a woman who has a baby with a man and is not married to him nor emotionally involved with him. Other than in a Tina Fey comedy it has a negative connotation. As in a baby mama is a hoochie mama with a kid.

If you don't believe in marriage/broke up before getting married, etc. and had a child with your partner, the guy would refer to you as "his son's mom" not my baby mama. It would be rare to find two Ivy League educated people using that phrase unless they were being ironic. I find it interesting that Fox went with that graphic. I don't recall them using it when John Edwards asked the media to back off regarding his wife.

Maureen Dowd's recent column in the New York Times said now that Hillary is out of the line of fire, Michelle is next. It's starting already. I just hope and wish we could talk a little about the issues this fall. For example, is the price of gasoline in the U.S. going to hit $5 a gallon? How will that impact the economy?

18 comments:

erin said...

amen.

katerinafiore said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
katerinafiore said...

I meant to say ...I second that AMEN....

Eryn said...

Fox News sucks.......end of story!

p.s. i love that i can rely on a new post from you almost every day :-)

fail_safe said...

Oh yeah I forgot, Fox News is not only racist but they're misogynistic too. After having read this, for some reason I'm feeling really stabby.

Romerican said...

This is another fine example of how women are constantly being degraded in the media... So infuriating!

Texas Espresso said...

fox news totally sucks. they are part of the reason I don't even watch local news anymore. that comment is so demeaning.

Jen said...

Well, Fox news DOES suck, but this reaches new lows. How utterly disrespectful and inappropriate!

I just came from reading Los Angelista's lovely post about the effect of Obama's candidacy on her two young sons.

I wonder how much trash like this will surface, too, though.

It just makes my heart sick that we live like this.

Great post, btw.

Diva Girl said...

Hi:

I came across your blog through Roxanne and I would love the opportunity to person talk with you when I land in Rome, please send me an e-mail at info@divagraphicsinc.com. I live in Canada and I arrive in Taly June 29, I also work in film and would love to talk you about a possible film project, so check out my blog and hopefully we can connect.

Holla back at me

Claudia said...

I am so not surprised, I mean, it's FOX news!! What else would you expect from them? Unbiased news in the US is laughable

gibber said...

Even for fox news, this is DISGUSTING. I hate them. And let me tell you...I read the comments on a lot of news sites, and the things people say...makes me worry.

Tracie P. said...

that is UNbelievable! really? wow. sorry, that's about all i can type with my jaw on the floor...

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

erin and katerina - I know Faux News does some crazy things but that was just wrong. It's going to back fire.

eryn - well said. I'm in the middle of a rewrite so the next couple of week I might have to drop to three times a week.

ninety9 - Scary that they are the #1 cable new network.

romerican - yes it is but I fear it's going to get worse. I don't know if you ever read Faludi's Backlash. The book is over 10 years old but still relevant. Sad.

texas espresso - it is demeaning. what was that producer thinking!

jen - thanks. I wonder what Mr. Murdoch thinks of this? He can say nice things about Barack all day if he want but his fake news channel does this? I'm sure you heard about the "terrorist jab" incident.

diva - I will email you.

claudia - I know it's Fox but I'm still surprised!

gibber - I had to stop reading certain blog and websites. There are some truly hateful people out there.

tracie b - For a mainstream media outlet to bust out with that says a lot about pop culture, women and race.

Claudia said...

yes, you'd think a news agency would at least try to give the semblance of objectivity!! For me, it shows how ignorant they are, and that they are basically trying to play to people's fear and bias. I wish that there was some repercussion to it, but apparently no.

glamah16 said...

Catching up on some things while back in civilazarion.No they didn't!

Anonymous said...

Yes, that's typical of Fox News. That station is such a joke. I can't believe that anyone watches that channel.

Ms. ATL

Anonymous said...

The price of gas will continue to go up and hopefully people will finally, and dramatically, retaliate with their dollars. It will be painful for awhile, but hopefully some good, necessary, long-term change will come out of it. I do feel for the people in the newer exurbs where there isn't good public transport in place.

Fox is all about the distractions. Even though they 'apologized' for the producer's bad judgment, I doubt many of the McCain supporters took the apology that seriously. I'm sure they are trying to make her the next Theresa Heinz Kerry. Come to think of it, THAT should fire up some of those straggling Hillary supporters and get them on board. Wouldn't that be a great unintended consequence! :)

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

claudia - it's only the beginning. I can just imagine the kind of things we will be hearing before Nov. 3rd.

glamah16 - yes they did!

ms. ATL - too bad it's the number one cable channel. A lot of people are watching it.

jen in NJ - Frank Rich had a great column in the NYT saying the McCain campaign is crazy if they think they are going to get many angry female Hillary supports to vote for McCain. He said once McCain's record really comes out most of these women will not support him as he goes against their feminists beliefs. The poll numbers show Obama did well among women esp. younger ones. McCain needs to focus on his base, which is still not excited about him, instead of try to pretend he has anything in common with Hillary or Barack on feminist issues.