Rae on Women in Journalism

My daughter Rae wrote me last week:

Dad I really enjoyed your women in journalism section of PSACOT. Your answers were interesting and to the point. I laughed out loud at your fake statistic "They are the exception that proves the rule. And Bridget Jones and Ugly Betty are still prettier than 50% of all women journalists--and 90% of all men," and throughout your q and a you had the typical Paul Schindler pithiness we've all come to love.

I'd just like to take this opportunity to say how much I'm fed up with the stupid media representation of women not being able to balance work and homelife. It's a theme you've brought up because it's so pervasive. I just finished a Classic Hollywood cinema essay on the working women in Mildred Pierce and Gone with the Wind. Mildred and Scarlet took so much flak for their careers, even though they were the only breadwinners of their families. All they get is criticism from their men. I used the phrase "unappreciative parasites," and by the end of my essay, I am positively seething.