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Columnist, Tired Of Doing the Woman Beat, Resigns From Chicago Paper
In The China Syndrome, Jane Fonda's character, Kimberly Wells, is sick and tired of getting stupid assignments like covering the birthday parties of animals at the local zoo, but those are the only assignments she can get because she is a woman. Yet even Kimberly would be shocked by Debra Pickett's assignment from the Chicago Sun-Times: Her editor told her to breast-feed her son in public places and write about it.
Pickett said she didn't take the assignment seriously, and that she seen other assignments that began with "an outrageous premise" get negotiated into something workable. But this time, the situation was different for Pickett, who was close to returning to her job after taking a maternity leave. She tried to contact the managing editor, with whom she expected to negotiate the story, but she could not. Pickett says she felt the "ground had shifted" under her feet while she was gone, and her inability to reach the managing editor didn't help.
Pickett had written about her family in her column, and says that "that was fine, a lot of fun, but it's not necessarily who you want to be your entire life." She wanted to write about Africa and the AIDS problem, but says the newspaper staff kept pushing back into her husband-and-child niche. "The Sun-Times," Pickett says, "has a great staff writing about politics; an assignment to go forth and breast-feed is a pretty blunt way of being told your services won't be required for that coverage."
Kimberly Wells had her epiphany in 1979. Funny how little things have changed, despite what I hear from younger feminists.
And??? What's the story here???
First of all, maybe she isn't a very good writer? Seriously - maybe AIDS in Africa is beyond her capabilities? Sure, such an article pigeonholes her in writing about family, but maybe that is what she is good at and maybe her boss recognizes that?
What is wrong with writing about breast feeding in public? Sure ? it may not be her thing, but you make it sound like the editor is going to sit over her shoulder hoping to get a peek. I know to my wife and our friends, it is an important issue and they would like to see it practiced and discussed more. And, who else are they going to get to write such an article? I would think that a woman who is lactating would be the first that you would call, but I'm not in the news-biz.
As for her not getting in contact with her managing editor, according to the article in the Reader she was "trying to reach him all day". WOW ? She gave them a whole day? Did she start calling at 8:00am or wait till 9:00am? Please?I spend a whole week trying to get 5 minutes with my boss.
Must be a slow news day to post this.
And??? What's the story here???
First of all, maybe she isn't a very good writer? Seriously - maybe AIDS in Africa is beyond her capabilities? Sure, such an article pigeonholes her in writing about family, but maybe that is what she is good at and maybe her boss recognizes that?
What is wrong with writing about breast feeding in public? Sure ? it may not be her thing, but you make it sound like the editor is going to sit over her shoulder hoping to get a peek. I know to my wife and our friends, it is an important issue and they would like to see it practiced and discussed more. And, who else are they going to get to write such an article? I would think that a woman who is lactating would be the first that you would call, but I'm not in the news-biz.
As for her not getting in contact with her managing editor, according to the article in the Reader she was "trying to reach him all day". WOW ? She gave them a whole day? Did she start calling at 8:00am or wait till 9:00am? Please?I spend a whole week trying to get 5 minutes with my boss.
Must be a slow news day to post this.
And??? What's the story here???
First of all, maybe she isn't a very good writer? Seriously - maybe AIDS in Africa is beyond her capabilities? Sure, such an article pigeonholes her in writing about family, but maybe that is what she is good at and maybe her boss recognizes that?
What is wrong with writing about breast feeding in public? Sure it may not be her thing, but you make it sound like the editor is going to sit over her shoulder hoping to get a peek. I know to my wife and our friends, it is an important issue and they would like to see it practiced and discussed more. And, who else are they going to get to write such an article? I would think that a woman who is lactating would be the first that you would call, but I'm not in the news-biz.
As for her not getting in contact with her managing editor, according to the article in the Reader she was "trying to reach him all day". WOW She gave them a whole day? Did she start calling at 8:00am or wait till 9:00am? Please I spend a whole week trying to get 5 minutes with my boss.
Must be a slow news day to post this.
What happened to Pickett is not an isolated event, but part of a long pattern of pigeon-holing female reporters and columnists into doing only "women's stories." Pickett probably thought that at a big paper like the Sun-Times, she could write about women's issues and still be free to write about other issues. She was wrong, and she learned the hard way.
This story, like all news stories, occurs within a sociological context, and this is one context with which you do not seem to be familiar. But it is one most professional women know very well.
Jim, you seem unduly emotional on this subject. Imagine that you just had a testiculectomy[admittedly made up terminology] and your boss thought it better to exploit that personal thing about yourself for an article instead of covering something that you were pasionate about and willing to do your best work for.
Also, your immediate default that the editor [male] probably had sound judgment and that the reporter [female] was possibly misunderstanding or melodramatizing the situation speaks volumes for your view of the sexes.