Who can spot the sexism?

[makattak]

A Slate writer thinks the write up of a tragic death is sexist because it contains details she is able to, through laborious victimology, twist into disparaging the deceased.

Let me quote the original piece and see if anyone here can explain the sexism without cheating and looking at the answer key:

A 35-year-old media executive on a first date plunged to her death Thursday after the railing on her 17th-floor New York City balcony gave way, police said.
Jennifer Rosoff went outside for a cigarette around 12:50 a.m. when she either sat on the railing or leaned on it. Her date told her that she probably shouldn't do it, and then moments later, she apparently fell backward and landed on construction scaffolding at the first floor, authorities said. Police spoke to the man and no foul play was suspected.

Yes, those four sentences contain enough sexism to write an entire article about. I've already done the hard work and told you it's an extremely sexist piece. Now, let's see who can catch it.






For those who are stumped, like I was, here's the answer key: http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/08/02/jennifer_rosoff_s_death_and_the_associated_press_s_sexist_reporting_of_it.html

All I can say is that she must have a degree in victimology. No one could be this foolish without training.

[Ben]

In popular culture, it's the woman who's the nag. So since the man nagged at her not to lean on the balcony, isn't it the opposite of sexism?

[wuluf]

Haha, I love the Onion!...oh, wait.....

[Monkeyleg]

I thought it was sexist of the man to tell the woman what to do.

[AZRedhawk44]

A 35-year-old media executive on a first date plunged to her death Thursday after the railing on her 17th-floor New York City balcony gave way, police said.
Jennifer Rosoff went outside for a cigarette around 12:50 a.m. when she either sat on the railing or leaned on it. Her date told her that she probably shouldn't do it, and then moments later, she apparently fell backward and landed on construction scaffolding at the first floor, authorities said. Police spoke to the man and no foul play was suspected.

Irrational spinster whore brings men to her shag-shack on first dates, dies from stupidity.

[TechMan]

A reader is left with the distinct impression that if Rosoff hadn’t invited her date inside, hadn’t gone outside to smoke a cigarette, and hadn’t defied the advice of the wise and logical man she was with, she would still be alive.

Ah, yes to this statement

[geronimotwo]

it's sexist because the writer forget to mention it was her lesbian lover who told her not to sit on the railing!

[Perd Hapley]

A) If she were a dude, we wouldn't be hearing about relationship details?

B) Because the guy isn't suspected?

[Perd Hapley]

I was right about the first one.

"Defied gender norms by being 35 and single." Yeah, 'cause this is 1955, and we're all shocked when women aren't happy homemakers.    I guess that's true in the same way that being anti-abortion is sexist, because it's always 1885, and men just always want their women pumping out babies all the time.

[brimic]

There's either a story here or its a complete non-story...

All that the Slate article did was point out subtle journalistic bias, something that is in nearly every newspaper article. The only reason why it was pointed out was that the 'bias' didn't fit a progressive world view.

[Balog]

Even a lot of folks on the liberal/feminist side are mocking this article.

[vaskidmark]

But the re-write is age-ist.  And by implication very probably body mass biased as well.  Not to mention so full of dropped names as to make it impossible not to trip over them.  And the fact that she was employed shows bias against those who are not constricted by the limitations on time forced by arbitrary "work hours" - why, if she was not employed she could have done her smoking out on the balcony during daylight hours where she cold have seen any defect in the railing and thus avoided the accident entirely.

Even if distilled down to "NYC resident falls from balcony.  Apartment maintenance checking to see if railing was faulty, and if other railings are also defective" we are faced with the issue if whether or not residing in NYC had anything to do with this tragedy.  How many people living in Yonkers are also exposed to this sort of risk, and why is their safety not a concern?

All of these things, however, are meaningless.  I'm not sure just how, but it certainly was Fistful's fault.  It's always his fault.

stay safe.

[Tallpine]

Don't underestimate the gravity of the situation.

[MillCreek]

I fell head over heels for the premise of this story.

[SADShooter]

Railing against reality won't take you anywhere but down.

[BlueStarLizzard]

The modern feminist is just as into creating sexism where there is none as the race baiters at creating racism where there is none, just with less success in marketing their outrage.

[RocketMan]

Who can spot the modern feminist writer making a damn fool of herself?

[Hawkmoon]

I don't see any sexism in any of the various reports I've read on the incident (and I can't find one that opens with the exact two paragraphs cited by this twit). What I do see in the twit's analysis is rampant dumbism -- she is obviously offended that a mere male might have had the innate smarts to suspect a potential problem with a rickety railing, and moreover that said mere male would have had the chutzpah to actually speak out about it to a female.

Who was dumber -- the unfortunate Ms. Rosoff, for ignoring the warning offered to her ... or the twit who finds fault with the news media for reporting, ah ... news?

[æg151337]

I found an article about a new twisty jar thing that she sorta wrote. You just twist the bottom and the bottom scraps of peanut butter rise up to be more easily accessible. Way more interesting than her article. Regardless of whether the article was sexist or not, would she still be working if she hadn't twisted a few facts here and there as she JUST DID with this one? Can a media outlet stay in business for very long telling plain basic facts?

She didn't exactly twist the facts to change the outcome for the readers, she did something much worse. She completely derailed the purpose of the article about the tragic death of a woman who smokes and is apparently slutty( L.V. said it) and turned it into a tool to bash another media agency.

[AZRedhawk44]

I found an article about a new twisty jar thing that she sorta wrote. You just twist the bottom and the bottom scraps of peanut butter rise up to be more easily accessible. Way more interesting than her article.

AND, she can get in the kitchen and do her job properly, of makin' me a sammich!

[lee n. field]

A reader is left with the distinct impression that if Rosoff hadn’t invited her date inside, hadn’t gone outside to smoke a cigarette, and hadn’t defied the advice of the wise and logical man she was with, she would still be alive.

Ummm.  Yeah.  All of this is quite true.

Actually, when I first read the story, my slow brain didn't even make the connection that she invited a man to her place on the first date, nor do I have prejudice against smokers, nor do I care to bash single women in their 30s. What I did laugh at is her job, a filthy media executive. I wonder how important she felt she was at her job. What buzzwords did she put on her resume? Was she good enough at Decision-Making to decide not to sit on a shaky rail? With her Strong Communication Skills, why didn't she listen to the advice of her date not to sit there? Her Strategic Planning senses should have told her that the risk of falling was not worth the reward of a place to sit. That's okay, maybe her Ability to Develop and Execute Creative Ideas Quickly and Accurately would be enough to break her fall? No? That's a shame.

[cambeul41]

I thought this was going to be about someone having a quickie standing up and leaning against the rail.  My bad.

I often wonder about the real safety provided by railings in modern buildings protecting people from long falls. It seems foolish to depend on them more than necessary.

My first reaction to the story was that I really had no objection to the suggested rewrite although I thought it needless to avoid non-existent sexism. Then I thought that the rewrite's avoidance of detail could be seen as covering something up.

As for blaming building maintenance for not doing adequate inspection, I see nothing that would suggest that the rail that failed had a defect that reasonable inspection would reveal. What does she want? A stress test of everything that might break? 

[cambeul41]

I thought this was going to be about someone having a quickie standing up and leaning against the rail.  My bad.

I often wonder about the real safety provided by railings in modern buildings protecting people from long falls. It seems foolish to depend on them more than necessary.

My first reaction to the story was that I really had no objection to the suggested rewrite although I thought it needless to avoid non-existent sexism. Then I thought that the rewrite's avoidance of detail could be seen as covering something up.

As for blaming building maintenance for not doing adequate inspection, I see nothing that would suggest that the rail that failed had a defect that reasonable inspection would reveal. What does she want? A stress test of everything that might break? 

[CNYCacher]

I thought this was going to be about someone having a quickie standing up and leaning against the rail.  My bad.

During a nighttime walk on a beach, I definitely once observed a couple thoroughly testing the shatter resistance of a 6th story hotel window

[cambeul41]

http://www.chinasmack.com/2013/pictures/chinese-couple-having-sex-by-window-fall-to-their-deaths.html

天气太热要人命！武汉情侣窗边爱爱一同坠楼身亡

The Weather’s so Hot that It Kills! Wuhan Lovers Making Love By Window Fall Off Building & Die