The Fox and the Hens By Marilyn Penn
http://politicalmavens.com/index.php/author/marilynpenn/
True to its brand name, Fox News styles its women as vixens with furry false lashes, short pencil skirts and stratospheric shoes that might be dangerous if anyone had to actually walk in them. But seated so that their long legs show more thigh than one-time bathing suits, the women cross their legs and let the camera help their heels to send a loud, clear message of sexual availability. With the exception of Greta von Susteren, whose name alone sounds like an admonition to step back, the Foxy ladies exude sex appeal – Kimberly Guillfoyle, Megyn Kelly, the erstwhile Gretchen Carlson even had glamorous names to go with their form-fitting latex dresses, their sleeveless arms even in winter, their long wavy hair, their perfectly made-up faces no matter the time of day. Since all the Fox women are super-bright and ambitious, one can only question how they failed to get the message of the part they were designed to play. Were they so naive that they didn’t think their attractiveness was essential to their being hired? When they looked at their boss and heard his instructions as to their Stepford-similar make-up and get-ups, did it never cross their minds that this gig might come with the expectations of extra-curricular activity?
These are obvious rhetorical questions since I’ve already stated that the women are smart and ambitious. It doesn’t actually matter whether some of them participated willingly in office interludes or just titilating flirtations – the point is that they were working in a hot-house atmosphere whose message leaches off-screen into people’s bedroom fantasies. So where’s the big scandale? Aren’t these ladies all big girls who know how to deal? Did Roger Ailes really get canned because Gretchen Carlson accused him of having made some suggestive remarks to her – all of which were in the past tense? Doubtful. Was it Megyn Kelly’s supportive complaint that did him in?
Probably not. More likely, the Murdoch brothers decided that this was the most effective way to decapitate Ailes and turn Fox into something more akin to their own political leanings. It must have a taken quite a while to convince their father that it was good business to get rid of the man who turned Fox into the number one income producing channel with the most watched news shows. Perhaps they found their perfect moment now that dad has married Jerry Hall, another hottie at age 60.
Roger left quietly to the tune of a $40 million dollar melody and we will soon see what the Murdochs have in mind as far as political re-vamping. As for the vamping ladies, I’m betting that not a whit will change. Any woman who is truly uncomfortable with a flirtatious persona that comes with a high salary and excellent benefits need not apply. But those who do surely know how this oldest game is played and how to deflect unwanted advances while listening to a potty-mouthed employer. Even Anita Hill knew how to keep her job and get excellent references for her next one without once uttering any objection to her employer’s alleged unwelcome remarks. The latest Fox revelation concerns Laurie Luhn who received a settlement of $3.15 million dollars and then told the tabloids that Ailes had forced her into a sexual relationship that lasted a year; hmmm, was it another instance of ” rape, rape, rape all summer long?”
Meanwhile, Megyn Kelly still wears stiletto heels and still bats those furry lashes to the growing audience she is designed to attract. Some women love the power and success that comes with that act – one senses that their half-hearted attempts at sisterhood with a fired colleague are merely glossy lip-service to the less attractive women in the audience. But like any successful cocktail waitress, they surely know it’s usually the men who give the biggest tips.
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