Emily Ratajkowski, an American model, took to Twitter on February 13th, 2017 to express her distaste for the comments made by a New York Times reporter while at New York Fashion Week. This reporter, who we now know to be Jacob Bernstein, called First Lady Melania Trump a ‘hooker.’.
Berstein is the son of Carl Bernstein, a Watergate journalist, and Nora Ephron, a screenwriter. As Ms. Ratajkowski explains in a series of three tweets, his comments were not only inappropriate; there was a gender-specific attack on the First Lady.
Melania was born in Slovenia but immigrated to the United States in order to further pursue her career in modeling. She lives in Manhattan as a lawful permanent citizen. During her modeling career, she posed for sets of risque photographs at the age of 25. And due to the career choice of a woman who was then simply a consenting adult but now the wife to the leader of the free world, both her standards and her virtue are being questioned.
Our First Lady has been the express target of numerous sexist attacks. A New York Post cover page titled ‘The Ogle Office’ features nude photographs of her with stars partially covering her breasts, while an Anti-Trump SuperPAC created memes using images from a GQ Magazine spread from 2000 where she was nearly naked. These were met with attacks on her because of her expression of sexuality and her gender. This is commonly referred to as ‘slut shaming.’ By the definition of the Oxford Living Dictionary, that’s exactly what Jacob Bernstein did to First Lady Melania. He shamed her. And unfortunately, he was joined by other high-profile men like Tariq Nasheed.
This type of behavior, particularly from someone who represents a liberal-leaning publication such as the New York Times should be abhorrent to the political Left. However, because she is a Republican president’s wife, there is a lack of outrage from liberal feminists. And that lack of outrage is a major setback to the feminist movement.
To exclude an entire group of Republican and conservative women from the narrative of feminism is not only exclusionary but proves the prejudice and inherent bias within the movement.
Are women with different beliefs not worthy of feminist support? That’s the message that silence is portraying. The political Left preaches about ‘inclusivity and intersectionality,’ about including transgender women and men in the feminist movement, but lacks the respect to include women who believe in fiscally responsible values because of the title of ‘Republican.’
The fact that Mr. Bernstein was allowed to make these egregious comments without public outcry and disapproval just proves where feminism stands on women who stand right of center. The fact that so-called ‘feminists’ ragged on Ms. Ratajkowski in the replies to her tweets for standing up for our First Lady shows where feminism stands on conservative women.
The fact that this article has to be written shows where feminism stands, and it’s not with her. It’s time to embrace diversity of thought, and not just of color and gender.
The most unfortunate fact is that Melania Trump represents everything liberals claim to love: she’s a woman, an immigrant, and embraced her sexuality through her modeling — yet she is shamed for all of those things by figures like Chelsea Handler, who accused her of barely being able to speak English when she, in all actuality, is fluent in 5 languages.
Right-of-center women have been and will likely continue to be absent from the narrative of feminism, and are even targeted by feminists themselves. To be seen as lesser and not worthy of support in a movement meant to benefit women is not only telling, but harmful in itself.
It’s time to throw away divisive identity politics and speak up for all women, not just women who agree with what you have to say.
