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Around a year ago I saw a television news story about a women who had saved somebody's life. The "woman saves a life" story was not the lead story of the television news show. The news anchors, one of whom was a women, sort of slipped the story of the women saving someone's life halfway through the newscast, in a sort of subdued, casual manner. So subdue was it I don't recall it other than it happened.
I began think of news stories involving men and heroism. Most of the stories involving heroic men would usually be on page one of the newspaper with a large headline and a picture. Or, the "heroic man" television news stories would be promo'd prior to the 11:00 news, and would then also be one of the leading news stories as well.
The belief that a man helping save someone else from tragedy is somehow more "newsworthy", braver, more heroic, than a woman saving somebody from a tragedy, is sexism. One could argue that if we accept the premise that women are genetically less muscular than men, and possibly limited by the wearing of heels or a flowing dress, then that would mean a heroic act by a women is either MORE heroic, or equally heroic, but certainly not less heroic, than the same act performed by a man.
I bring this up because just today (May 25, 2008) I was reading in the Los Angeles Daily News story about a helicopter crash in the Catalina Islands. A women literally ran towards the plummeting Helicopter before it had actually hit the ground. Would most people who saw a helicopter falling from the sky actually run up to it before it had even crashed?
I believe that most people would have either stayed exactly where they were, watching with their mouths agape, or they would have hid behind something to avoid possible wreckage projectiles. Instead our "heroine" ran towards the helicopter even before it had crashed into the ground. After the helicopter did crash our heroine helped pull a man with two broken legs out of the burning helicopter wreckage..
If it had been the women's husband who had run up to the helicopter and pulled the man out, the story would have run on page one, with a picture. The man would have become either a celebrity, or if not a celebrity, an appearance on Jay Leno or David Letterman might have been in their future. (that is a slight dig at these two late show hosts for ridiculing Hillary Clinton on an almost nightly basis).
Sexism is still alive and terrible in this day and age. Hillary Clinton has had to battle sexism during her democratic presidential campaign in the form of media bias and harrassment. The biggest manifestation of sexism has been the media attacks that Hillary Clinton has had to endure on an almost daily basis. Keith Olbermann's "we have forgiven you time and time again" speech was the apocalypse of sexism and set the women's movement back a good 10 or 20 years. Unless Olbermann is suspended until after this years elections are done, the bar has moved back for women in their fight against sexism.
Having taken every shot and bounced back, Hillary Clinton has yet to receive the real prize, the acknowledgement that she is the more popular democratic candidate. Hillary's primary foe has been the pseudo college educated internet mudslinging college educated male, who feels under appreciated and threatened by Hillary Clinton's popularity.
It's harder to be the more popular candidate when sexism is still alive and gaining on you by males who oppose you and call your supporters racists.
