By Courtney Enlow | Politics | October 26, 2016 |
By Courtney Enlow | Politics | October 26, 2016 |
Since last August when Megyn Kelly became the one Fox News pundit, let alone a female Fox News pundit, to call Donald Trump out on his bullshit, she has been touted as a hero among women for continuing to do so even in the face of repeated attacks.
Well. A hero among some women.
It is wholly satisfying to watch a woman take on Donald Trump and his ilk. To watch her calmly unleash fire and brimstone on Newt Gingrich? It’s a goddamn delight.
But let’s not forget that for years, Kelly has helped further the racist, misogynist, anti-poor, anti-everything agenda of Fox News.
There was that time she allowed a guest to equate birth control with euthanasia, without so much as a correction or discussion. There was that time she called Beyoncé’s lyrics “skanky” and used her VMA performance to attack “modern feminism.” And that time she argued passionately that Santa is white and that Jesus was white, too. Or that time she proudly investigated Obama’s ties to the New Black Panther Party and refusal to protect white voters from intimidation. Or all the times she helped Benghazi remain the GOP’s favorite line of attack. Or gave a platform to a climate change denier. Or agreed with Newt Gingrich that poor schools should fire their janitors and just use schoolchildren.
It’s great that she’s standing up to some of the misogynist rhetoric women face every day. Certainly if we’re grading on a Fox News curve, she gets an A. But it’s a rhetoric that has been massively pushed by her own network, a network that has risen to power on the backs of anti-black, anti-immigrant, anti-science, anti-woman, anti-LGBTQ, anti-any-combination-of-these stances.
We can respect her. We can enjoy her slaps to the face of everything her network stands for. But do not mistake: this is not our feminist hero. Let’s not hold her up as such.