Times Up and Other Women’s Organizations Warn Media to Refrain From Sexist and Racist Coverage of Biden’s V.P. Pick
A group of female leaders came together to demand the media to refrain from perpetuating any sexist, misogynistic, and racist comments throughout the 2020 election coverage.
In light of Joe Biden revealing his VP pick, California Senator Kamala Harris, Time’s Up Now, along with other organizations, challenges the news media from using sexist and racist comments.
For just the third time in U.S. history, a woman will be a major party’s #VP nominee. We won’t let the media’s sexist political attacks tear down @KamalaHarris or any other women candidates. Speak out & add your name to the #WeHaveHerBack open letter: https://t.co/cPWL46AJTv
— TIME’S UP (@TIMESUPNOW) August 11, 2020
The news media has been called out by celebrities for using sexist headlines during the election coverage throughout this year. Time’s Up Now continues the organization’s mission to challenge the status quo, paving an equal opportunity for women.
ATTN Media. Let’s do better. Pitting women against one another for the VP race and using sexist, egregious and misleading headlines don’t help the cause. #WeHaveHerBack
— kerry washington (@kerrywashington) August 10, 2020
President and CEO of Times Up Now, Tina Tchen, was among one of the group of female leaders that wrote a letter to top news executives amid the female VP candidate announcement. In addition, the other female leaders include Fatima Goss Graves(National Women’s Law Center), Ilyse Hogue(NARAL)Valerie Jarrett, Alexis McGill Johnson and Melanie Newman(Planned Parenthood), Debra Ness(National Partnership for Women and Families), Cecile Richards(Supermajority), Jess Morales Rocketto, Hilary Rosen, Stephanie Shriock and Christina Reynolds (Emily’s List).
The letter warns the news media to restrain from stereotyping and using sexist language. Written before Biden formally announced Harris as his VP pick for the Democratic party, the letter comes after Biden informed the media his VP pick would indeed be a female.
The letter reads, “Our country-and your newsrooms-have learned a lot since the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent protests for racial equality that his death spurred.” The letter continues, “In short, the times and experience made you, the most powerful people in the media, stop and think about your role in perpetuating inequality and the opportunity you had to promote equality and simple justice with your reporting of the news.” The letter continues with examples of how the media has covered women throughout the years and urges the media to use their “power wisely.”
The group of women who have come together to write, deliver, and enforce what the letter entails have created a new movement, dawning the hashtag We Have Her Back. If you would like to learn more about Time’s Up Now, donate, or become a volunteer, you can click here.
