Jezebel, The 'Mainstream' of Feminism

L. Brent Bozell III

November 2, 2013 - 8:46am

Feminism isn't just a brutal philosophy for millions of unborn children. It's brutal on the Internet. Take the website Jezebel.com, a reference to the prophetess in the Book of Revelation who was "teaching and beguiling my servants to practice immorality."

This summer, a Catholic priest in Gainesville, Virginia took to Facebook to help find an adoptive home for an unborn child with Down syndrome. It spurred a little press boomlet when hundreds of people called or e-mailed the church, volunteering to raise the child.

But Katie J.M. Baker of Jezebel thought this story was disgusting. [1]

"So many mistreated babies and kids with Downs live terrible lives," Baker wrote. "Instead of throwing resources at a nonviable fetus, why can't the church help children with Down syndrome who are already alive? Because anti-abortion folks care more about fetuses with fairytale narratives than actual babies."

Two days after this putrid piece, Planned Parenthood honored Baker with a "Maggie Award" for her "ongoing original coverage of reproductive health news and legislation." Now Baker has been hired by the folks that currently own Newsweek, prompting her to write a departure blog headlined "Goodbye to the Coven."

The jaw drops. This was an actual baby, not a doomed "non-viable fetus." Most people who say "Downs kids live terrible lives" are making excuses as they kill them.

This Down-syndrome dissing was just another day at the office for the Jezebel coven. They've also mocked women obsessed over when to choose pregnancy by offering instead, "When's the Best Age to Have an Abortion?" How about under 18? "Well, duh. This one's a no-brainer." At 30? "If you saved up a little, you could probably afford a designer abortion. A Marc Jacobs abortion, in teal."

For feminists, any age is perfect.

Now this website has been transformed into a book, "The Book of Jezebel," a snark-loaded feminist encyclopedia. It can be repetitive. The condom is "a must-have accessory for protection against two potentially life-threatening conditions: AIDS (among other STIs) and babies."

You read that sentence correctly.

"Children" are defined as "the side effect of sex," and "nephew, niece" is defined as "child of a sibling, a partner's sibling, or a dear friend. They work well as both practice kids and as reminders to use birth control." A "zygote" is "too young to be a slut, so way more entitled to civil rights than you are."

The Jezebel entry for "misogyny" is "Exemplified by God, Aristotle, Phyllis Schlafly, Rush Limbaugh, The Republican Party, Allen West."

Unsurprisingly, our leftist media elite love Jezebel. The Huffington Post announced "If these short posts are a sampling of smart womanhood, we're sold." The Daily Beast proclaimed the book a "coffee table bible for middle-class feminists everywhere." USA Today noted the "encyclopedic tome filled with hilarious, female-centric definitions on everything from popular movies, to virginity, to acne." CNN host Jake Tapper not only promoted the book and Jezebel founder Anna Holmes on air, he attended her book party.

No one loved this book like National Public Radio. They published at least three book reviews and interviewed Anna Holmes at least three times - on "All Things Considered," on "Marketplace," and "On Point with Tom Ashbrook." No one asked Holmes about trashing God, or mothers who choose to have more than two children. No one even asked why she lists her name on Twitter as "SATANna Holmes." (Emphasis hers.)

NPR.org reviewer Annalisa Quinn proclaimed: "Jezebel is the closest thing we have to an engaging and mainstream [!] feminist news outlet. That is something to be grateful for. It may sometimes be mean, petty, biased, and irresponsible - but it is utterly necessary."

Mean, petty, biased, irresponsible. That could also be a liberal's sales pitch for NPR donations.

But on "Fresh Air," NPR reviewer Maureen Corrigan took the cake in celebrating this tome of "jolly feminist cultural commentary." The book "is packed with gorgeous graphics and photos, as well as witty and unruly entries on everything from Laura Ingalls Wilder's `Little House on the Prairie' books to speculums. Most gloriously, this is an encyclopedia with a voice. Take, for instance, the entry on conservative commentator Ann Coulter, which notes that she subsists on a diet of kittens."

Notice how NPR liberals love to think of themselves as the guardians of civility, and the gentle moderators of a national discussion. Baloney. They delight in laughing at the "glorious" notion of Ann Coulter eating kittens.

This is NPR's only recent mention of Ann Coulter. Her latest book didn't receive three gooey book reviews and three fawning interviews. She just gets Jezebel-slapped.