Letters to the Editor
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I'm totally confused
by the many posters who say that Traister is "playing the gender card" and claiming that Katie Couric is failing because she's a woman in a sexist world. Traister isn't saying that at all. That's clear from the many comparisons she makes between Katie Couric and other *non-tanking* women broadcasters and journalists. She does claim that Katie's femininity stacks the deck against her being taken seriously, but it's easy to argue that's true for both men *and women. (How many girly men have you seen in the boardroom lately? Traister even makes this point, saying that you have to be a barrel-chested asshole to win in business. Again, how many girly barrel-chested assholes do you know?) She also questions whether Hagan would've made a big deal out of, for example, a male anchor's golf swing gesture, as he does out of Katie Couric's "Call me" gesture. But that's nowhere near claiming that sexism is to blame for Couric's failures.
It seems like those posters accusing Traister of crying sexism are playing the you're-playing-the-gender-card card, which is just as bad as playing the gender card.