The AP’s Sexist Coverage of Levi Johnston
I complain a lot about the gender-based coverage received by women candidates. Overly effusive physical description is one the most prevalent ways in which this gender-tagging occurs.
So, I feel it’s important to call out the media when they gender-tag men, too.
Levi Johnston - Bristol Palin’s fiance - isn’t a candidate, but is apparently important enough to interview.
Johnston is described first as ’soft-spoken’, a frequent gender-tag, but the AP’s Adam Goldman doesn’t stop there:
Johnston, a Wasilla heartthrob, said he wanted to set the record straight.
…
Johnston is an avid hunter. He’s dark haired, tall and muscular, sports a bit of stubble and drives a red Chevy Silverado truck. He’d be the perfect cover for Field & Stream.
Erhm, can someone check Goldman’s notebook for heart doodles? That’s insane.
This is one of the weirdest stories I’ve read in a while. The interview apparently occurred in Levi’s driveway, providing the reader with less of a portrait of Johnston, than concerns about the AP’s stalkiness.
And it’s written in a peculiar, extremely colloquial tone:
He’s bagged bears, sheep, elk, and caribou. Some of the antlers are scattered about his yard. Last July on a caribou hunt he lost a “promise” ring that Palin had given him. He said he decided to tattoo her name on the finger and not bother with more rings because he’d just lose them anyway.
Asked to describe his feeling about the Republican Convention, Johnston replied, “At first, I was nervous… Then I was like, ‘Whatever.’”
That feeling also seems abundant in his attitude toward the democratic process, of which he’s unwittingly become a part; Johnston did not register to vote in this year’s election.
Well, that’s what we learned in our ‘rare interview with The Associated Press’ - I just hope Johnston’s mother doesn’t have to call the Wasilla police to get Goldman off the lawn.
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