Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Why I Love Kitty Pilgrim

She never wears pink.

Wait! I know what you're thinking: "That's all you have to say about one of the top investigative journalists in the world?? You comment about what she wears?! Why does everybody moan about the fashions and hair of serious women reporters? I don't hear you making snippy remarks about Lou Dobbs' ties!"

Hear me out.

That's my whole point. Why can't a woman be tough, competent and basically brilliant, without going on-air wearing #%$*-ing pink? So many anchors and reporters are showing up in pink lately. I haven't been keeping a log. Maybe I should start doing so. But it isn't just the Barbie-doll anchors. It's the serious, smart ones in the field, who have important things to tell us.

The Husband and I watch news at lunch and dinner. I've begun taking a moment out from nibbling my cheese toast to say:

"Pink."

out loud, whenever one pops up, and this is getting to be once or twice a day. On occasion, The Husband will say it first. I'm a bad influence.

Well, i might start keeping a notebook next to me, to document just how bad this cutesification of women reporters gets. I can tell you that CNN's Kathleen Koch wore hot pink last night, to bring us a serious report from the White House.

What is this pink trend about? Are the pointy-haired bosses afraid that CNN's women are too FemiNazi, and need to show that they're nice and Girlie, just like the Nurturing Ladies of Fox News?

Never mind. Kitty never wears pink. She's a serious journalist and she wears serious suits with no apologies. The day she gives in to the "Fem yourself up, pretty Little Lady!" idiots that have turned the news into Fashionista Central, I'll cry. Why the heck should she? When you've got a resume like this you don't need to.

2 comments:

SoCalKyle said...

Have you ever considered that a lot of women wear pink because of United for Pink? Perhaps this is an easy way to endorse a cause without the network endorsing it? There is nothing that makes you a bimbo for wearing pink, no more than it makes a man a "fag" for doing it. It's just a color.

Nostalgic for the Pleistocene said...

Hi and thanks for dropping in. What I tried to convey was that they aren't bimbos at all -- smart, competent, talented media women wear it.

Maybe they really like it, but I often wonder if many woman smart and tough enough to rise to a high level in media really are also women who truly want to adorn themselves in a baby color.

If they really like it, great, but IF networks are pressuring them to act softer and more needy-of-nurturing than they actually are, and to do it by wearing this little-girl color -- and if they are giving in to that -- I wish they wouldn't.

I know public wearing of pink appears more in March because of breast cancer awareness month, and that's a much better reason. I'll say, though, that while awareness is a great thing, I wish that a women's issue did not have to be symbolized by pink. But I guess all the good colors for causes and ribbons were taken. 8~)