What most surprises me about misogynists in America blaming Lara Logan for being brutally assaulted by misogynists in Egypt is that others seem to have been caught off guard to discover there are women haters in this hallowed nation – even among the punditry!
But put aside for the moment the abuse Hillary Clinton and other women in our culture have undergone here at home and check out what Susan Milligan at US News.com has to say about the latest blatant upsurge of misogyny in our own backyard – the misogyny targeting Lara Logan.
Milligan writes:
Tragically, reporter Lara Logan didn’t need to go to a region of political unrest to be the target of vicious personal attacks and misogyny. She got it right here at home.
Logan, an experienced and brave journalist for CBS, was beaten and sexually assaulted while covering the protests in Tahrir Square in Cairo. It was another reminder of the tremendous risks members of media take when covering an important story. But a series of self-styled pundits, driven by a hatred of Muslims or women or both, have taken the “blame the victim” approach to an appalling new level. [See photos of the Egyptian uprising.]
Media Matters for America has done the most comprehensive job of culling the most egregious posts, which can be read here. The rhetoric is truly disgusting: LA Weekly writer Simone Wilson referred to Logan’s “shockingly good looks” and determined that the assaulting mob “apparently consummated their newfound independence by sexually assaulting the blonde reporter.” What was her point--that only attractive and blonde women are sexually attacked? (Read the Washington Post’s excellent, and disturbing, story about a rapist who targets elderly women).
Then there’s Nir Rosen, a (now former) fellow at NYU’s Center for Law and Security, who tweeted that “It's always wrong, that's obvious, but I'm rolling my eyes at all the attention she'll get … She's so bad that I ran out of sympathy for her.” Rosen--who, given his apparent stature, should have known better--has resigned. That was tame compared to right wing blogger Debbie Schlossel, who wrote: “No one told her to go there. She knew the risks. And she should have known what Islam is all about. Now she knows.”
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