It was badly written and far too many are just focusing on Pollitt's tired use of the 80s phrase "Gag me with a spoon!" Granted when a writer's as bad as Katha, it's hard to pin it down to just one passage but, for us, the one that had us howling was this little tip from Katha:
Fill more important jobs at The Washington Post. We should be half the assigning editors, half the writers, and half the regular columnists too (current roster of op-ed columnists: 16 men, two women).
Oh, Katha thinks it's important for outlets to publish women? Now, she thinks that? Now?
As Winona says to Ethan in Reality Bites, "Where were you!"
Where were you Katha, when we were calling out the systematic sexism at your own magazine (The Nation) throughout 2007? Maybe you missed the features as we tracked individual issues, but how could you stay silent in the face of our six-month study:
"Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you must have a penis," "Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis," "Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis," "Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis," "Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis," "Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis," "Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis," "Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis," "Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis," and "Are You A Writer For The Nation? If so, chances are you have a penis."
How could you continue to refuse to call out your own magazine publicly (the way you have The New York Times and now The Washington Post) after "The Nation featured 491 male bylines in 2007 -- how many female ones?" (The answer to the question is "194.")
You stayed silent because you're only loud and tough when you can finger-point at someone who doesn't sign your pay check. It's a weak sort of feminism that allows you to call out from a distance but never up close.
Katha, they were already laughing at you before we shared the above. Even our sharing that we term you the Charlotte Rae of the Mud Flap Gals didn't increase the laughter, only prolonged it. You made yourself a joke long ago and only confirmed it when you cyber-stalked your ex-boyfriend and then decided to embarrass yourself further by writing about it. We think the only thing sadder than being a dirty joke is being an old joke but we figure you'd know about that far better than we would.
