Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Caption was sexist


I was delighted to read of the success of so many of our Wood River Valley youths at the district tennis championships last week. However, I was disappointed by the caption the Express chose to print accompanying the photograph of Emmy O'Reilly and Marin Shepardson. The caption stated: "Community School seniors Emmy O'Reilly and Marin Shepardson take a pretty picture after winning the district girls doubles title ..."

On the surface the caption seems innocuous, but it has sexist undertones and would have never been used to accompany a photograph of a male champion. Using the phrase "take a pretty picture" shifts the attention away from what these two young women did through skill, practice, hard work, and determination and somehow implies that beauty is relevant when a female is competing.

Our young women get enough negative messages about their bodies, their accomplishments and their value as people from the mainstream media and I would hope that in the future, the Express would honor female achievement with the same respect accorded to that of the men of the valley rather than belittle it the way this caption did.

Leslie Bradshaw

Ketchum




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