Do White Men Run NYT 'Room for Debate' Opinion Blog? | What Is the Gender Balance of NYT Writers in General?
Mon, September 26, 2011 
Former PETA, anti-fur model Naomi Campbell for Dennis Basso collectionWest Hollywood Moves to Ban Fur Coat Sales & Fur Fashion Sales SN Living
The New York Times picks up the recent decision by the city council of West Hollywood to ban fur sales, pending a final vote in early October, asking whether there’s a difference between wearing fur and leather in its ‘Room for Debate’ Opinion column.
I left a general comment about ‘Ban Fur? Then Why Not Leather’ after noting that five men and one woman provided the intellectual context around the discussion. Perhaps my gander was up, after watching the entertaining and potentially relevant new ABC Show ‘Pan Am’ last night, causing me to reflect on just how far women haven’t come in America in the last five — count them 5-5-5-decades.
In fact, I do just that often these days. Forgive me for being blunt, but men are still running the show.
Re the NYT, I am curious to survey all their forum discussions. Do white men run the entire show or just this particular discussion on fashion fur and leather? To be continued. Anne
No Moral Distinction Betwen Furs and Leathers ‘Room for Debate’ NYTimes
Dear NYT. Why — 48 years after ABC’s new show ‘Pam Am’ took flight — am I reading the pov of 5 men and 1 woman on this topic, when countless research surveys say that women are more ‘progressive’ on this question — at least philosophically. Couldn’t you cough off 2 women — if not parity — given the gender divide on this topic? Men’s view that they rule nature, animals & women is not some feminist vision of reality, but the real deal based on numerous religious texts and Aristotle himself. A quick Google of women vs men vegetarians page 1, has numerous citations that women are 60% more likely to be vegetarians then men. For all I know, your writers are evenly split on the question, but I am tired of reading only the opinions of men on key questions about life in the 21st century — while we teeter on the brink of disaster in economic, environmental & women’s rights arenas. My historical sense of humor and good nature — I get along beautifully with most men and have saved more than one male butt in corporate America — are gone on this gender-bias issue of opinion-makers, 50 years later. For a supposedly progressive journalistic institution, please ask yourselves why you insist that readers are fed one gender’s views on these important topics? Care enough to look for female experts who can think and write clearly, and you will definitely find them. As to what women must do to gain their place on the podium, I am clueless five decades later.
Reader Comments