NOW Blasts Fox News For Only Caring About Sexism Against Sarah Palin

By Tracie Egan Morrissey | March 23, 2011 | 4:12pm

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Last Friday, on his HBO show Real Time, Bill Maher called Sarah Palin a “dumb twat.” Since then, Fox News—home of Palin’s political commentary—has apparently been harassing the National Organization for Women to come out against Maher in defense of Palin. Yesterday NOW told the network, that it’s a “known fact” that it does not correspond with FOX News. But in her blog NOW’s communications director Lisa Bennett said, “Listen, supposedly progressive men (ok, and women, too): Cut the crap! Stop degrading women with whom you disagree and/or don’t like by using female body terms or other gender-associated slurs.” But Bennett went on to call out the right-wing media for its duplicitous interest in sexism after years of ignoring the matter:

You’re trying to take up our time getting us to defend your friend, Sarah Palin. If you keep us busy defending her, we have less time to defend women’s bodies from the onslaught of reproductive rights attacks and other threats to our freedom, safety, livelihood, etc. Sorry, but we can’t defend Palin or even Hillary Clinton from every sexist insult hurled at them in the media. That task would be impossible, and it would consume us. You know this would not be a productive way to fight for women’s equal rights, which is why you want us stuck in this morass.

Did you speak up once on behalf of a woman politician before you learned the name Sarah Palin? Did you work toward equality for women in any way prior to August 2008? It would be nice to think that you’ve suddenly discovered sexism and are interested in joining us in the struggle for full equality. But this really smacks of the worst kind of hypocrisy.

NOW Slams Bill Maher for Sarah Palin Insult, Chides Media for Asking About It [Fox News]