I have never been a fan of Megyn Kelly. That is to say, I don’t agree with her political views, and I don’t think it is appropriate for a news anchor to share their personal beliefs so openly on air. However, it would be wildly unprofessional of me to say any of the following things:
“You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever,”
“I might be the best thing that ever happened to her. Who ever heard of her before the last debate?”
“I liked The Kelly File much better without @megynkelly. Perhaps she could take another eleven day unscheduled vacation,”
“Wow @megynkelly really bombed tonight. People are going wild on twitter! Funny to watch,”
Nor would I retweet other people’s insults such as:
“The bimbo back in town. I hope not for long,”
“Fox viewers give low marks to bimbo @megynkelly will consider other programs,”
It would also be unethical of me to take a completely unrelated photo of her modeling for GQ magazine and use it as evidence for her inadequacy as a reporter. (screenshot of tweet below) It would be wrong to assume that because Kelly is modeling, that she is also giving men everywhere a license to objectify her.
All of these statements and actions have exactly two things in common. First, they are completely unacceptable forms of adult behaviour unbecoming of anyone who wants to be respected. Second, they were all perpetrated by Donald Trump.
I hesitate to take the attitudes of one childish man and extrapolate to the public at large, but I think the fact that his behavior has gained him supporters instead of turning people away is evidence of parts of US society that we should be ashamed of.
The assumption that women can either be attractive or professional but never both is one of these parts of society. We have come far enough to grant that women can be successful in the workplace, but we assume they must only be “working girls.” Women cannot be successful and also be openly sexual, otherwise it demeans them. It is for exactly this reason that Kelly has been called a “bimbo.” Not because she is unintelligent or unprofessional, but because she is a pretty woman, and so she shouldn’t be any more than that.
You might think “no, that can’t be true.” The world wouldn’t do that to women. But, if someone in the running for “Leader of the Free World,” thinks it is perfectly acceptable behavior, and he has a significant backing in the US, than you can’t deny that it is a sad but commonly held belief.
Trump’s harrassment of Kelly is disrespectful to her both as a journalist and a human being. More-so, it is a sign of disrespect to every woman in the United States of America. Regression into a country where women are treated as less than men will in no way make America great again.
