Sexist “We Only Describe What Female Politicians Are Wearing” Media Moment of the Day

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Anyone who reads newspapers with any frequency recognizes the trend: reporters love to talk about what powerful women are wearing. You’ll never hear about the cut of Robert Byrd’s suit or where Harry Reid got his shoes, but, boy, does Nancy Pelosi look good in that Armani suit. And that Condi Rice has been looking fine, too — especially in boots. Smart people know that talking about Hillary Clinton’s cleavage is a meaningless (not to mention sexist) distraction from the issues, so we’ll take care to try to point out some of the more egregious examples we come across.

From today’s Washington Post:

[California Rep. Loretta] Sanchez, … resplendent in a black outfit with silver sparkles.

“Resplendent”? Really? Tongue-in-cheek or not: give me a break.

— Nick Baumann

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GREAT JOURNALISM, SLOW FUNDRAISING

Our team has been on fire lately—publishing sweeping, one-of-a-kind investigations, ambitious, groundbreaking projects, and even releasing “the holy shit documentary of the year.” And that’s on top of protecting free and fair elections and standing up to bullies and BS when others in the media don’t.

Yet, we just came up pretty short on our first big fundraising campaign since Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting joined forces.

So, two things:

1) If you value the journalism we do but haven’t pitched in over the last few months, please consider doing so now—we urgently need a lot of help to make up for lost ground.

2) If you’re not ready to donate but you’re interested enough in our work to be reading this, please consider signing up for our free Mother Jones Daily newsletter to get to know us and our reporting better. Maybe once you do, you’ll see it’s something worth supporting.

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