On February 5, Fox’s own Suzanne
Venker published an online article titled “To be happy, we must admit women and men aren't 'equal'”.[1]
While a writer and social critic, Suzanne is best known for her role as a
“dedicated family woman”. This role as mother and wife has certainly influenced
her writing. According to Venker herself, “[women]
are happiest and most satisfied when they reject the feminist creed and embrace
their femininity.” Some of her works include How
to Choose a Husband (And Make Peace With Marriage), The War on Men, The Flipside of Feminism, and 7 Myths of Working Mothers.
Many of her works are no stranger to controversy and criticism, so it is no
surprise that a recent piece, “To
be happy, we must admit women and men aren't 'equal'” stirred up quite a buzz.
Although,
this time the criticism wasn’t so much about the concept as it was the presentation.
In Venker’s article, she critiques aspects of feminism and the feminist
movement as well as emphasizes the importance of marriage, specifically
heterosexual marriage. This view alone is substantial to create online chaos. Amusingly,
to accompany her utterly closed-minded argument about heterosexual marriage and
heteronormativity, Venker included a picture of a lesbian couple.
The shrewd woman who
first noticed this mistake was feminist author and blogger Jessica Valenti.
Valenti first posted about Fox’s mishap on her blog saying:
 |
Shhhh…no one tell Fox News that the “wedding kiss” picture they’re using to accompany a piece about traditional gender roles is actually of a same sex couple. (MADE MY DAY)[2]
Valenti’s post helped spread this key detail
throughout the news and blogosphere. The story caught like wildfire spreading
from sites like the Alaska Dispatch and the Huffington Post, to mommy and
feminist blogs and of course, Gawker. The subject material, being so
controversial in and of itself, paired with a depiction of a homosexual couple
is a time bomb waiting to explode. Many sites took advantage of the chance to
point out Fox’s lack of reliability and inattention to detail.
At first look, the photo could be
easily perceived as a man and woman rather than two women. This is even more
evident seeing that it took 3 whole days to notice the distinction. But this
cannot suffice as an excuse for Fox News. The photo used was no regular photo.
In fact, the picture is of the couple on their wedding day. Lela McArthur and
Stephanie Figarelle were the first same-sex couple to tie the knot at the top
of the Empire State Building, soon after New York legalized gay marriage.
Whereas, Venker’s usual reactions
are analytical, most sites that responded didn’t take her post nor her picture
to accompany her post very seriously. Gawker stated, “Of
course, she's talking about her belief that women should stop trying to compete
with men and just give in to the fact that they were put on earth to be a wife
and mother and nothing more. But looking at the photo of Stephanie Figarelle
and Lela McArthur lovingly sharing their first kiss as a legally married couple,
you can't help but smile.”[3] MSN
stated, “Come on Fox, everyone knows if you're going to be lazy and pick a photo
that totally undermines your story, you have to pick something a little more
obscure.”[4] It is also
interesting to note that no comments are allowed on Venker’s post. Again, this
cannot be simply because Venker is a controversial writer, as one of her other
pieces published on Fox News “Four things Jane Austen teaches us about love”
has commenting capabilities. Seeing how abundant the reactions were without any
commentary available, I can only imagine what it would be like with it.
Fox’s photo mishap reflects
poorly on their validity and reliability as a news source. The story was on spread
to a vast amount of sites, each directed toward different audiences. For people who were never skeptical of
Venker’s writing or Fox News may now be questioning their reasoning and for all
who already have preconceived notions of Fox’s validity and
reliability are just reinforced. On the other hand, the argument can be made
that the reaction to this picture incident was similar to a publicity stunt. Regardless
of the fact that Fox is being portrayed in a “bad light”, people are indeed
talking about, analyzing and criticizing Fox, nevertheless increasing their
exposure.
While
the blogosphere was quick to catch this incident, Fox was just as quick to
remove it. What now remains are two “restroom-esque” figures of a man and a
woman. Overall, the damage is done and the picture replacement does not
validate nor improve the original story.
[1] http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/02/05/to-be-happy-must-admit-women-and-men-arent-equal/
[2] http://jessicavalenti.tumblr.com/
[3] http://gawker.com/5982945/fox-news-accidentally-uses-photo-of-same+sex-couple-to-illustrate-article-about-the-importance-of-heterosexual-marriage
[4] http://now.msn.com/fox-news-uses-photo-of-lela-mcarthur-and-stephanie-figarelle-wedding-in-pro-heterosexual-article
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