TODAY's Kathie Lee Slut-Shames Jersey Shore's Snooki

by Roxann MtJoy · 2011-01-12 12:50:00 UTC
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America, you are in luck. Kathie Lee Gifford, co-host of the fourth hour of NBC's TODAY show, is qualified to judge your sex life and give you unsolicited "motherly advice," free of charge. That is, at least, if you're named Snooki and you are a guest on her show.  Then again, one woman's advice is another's slut-shaming, so maybe we aren't in luck after all.

On January 11, Snooki, star of MTV's popular reality show Jersey Shore, made an appearance on the TODAY show to promote her new book. Kathie Lee, having watched (I assume) some of Jersey Shore, felt that this was a great opportunity to shame Snooki for her sex life. Snooki sat and listened politely as Kathie Lee asked her how she's justify her behavior to her imaginary, future babies and said things like "I'd be crazed if you were my daughter." The kicker was that, at the very end of the interrogation— oops, I mean interview — Kathie Lee tells her to "value yourself more. Don't give yourself away to just any jerk, okay?" Kathie Lee just can't wrap her mind around a the concept of a young woman enjoying her sex life and having fun.

At first blush, maybe you don't have a problem with that. Maybe you think Snooki brings it on herself. Maybe you even think that Kathie Lee is right. If so, ask yourself this: would Kathie Lee ever, in a million years and a million extra TODAY show hours, say that to a young man? I don't think so.

It is absurd to suggest that a single woman can't both value herself and have an active sex life. As Tracie Egan Morrissey points out over at Jezebel, Snooki is a woman who seems to value herself quite a lot. Whether you like her or not, she's got a book, a television show, her own jewelry line, and more. She's young, one assumes relatively rich at this point, and briefly famous. Good for her for enjoying it while it lasts.

Slut-shaming such as this has no place in our society. It is an unfair, hurtful double standard. Tell Kathie Lee Gifford and the TODAY show to apologize for her treatment of Snooki and to commit to eliminating such unprofessional behavior in the future. The only person involved with that interview who should be ashamed is Kathie Lee.

Photo credit: NVS_Inc

Roxann MtJoy is a freelance writer who previously worked as a case manager at a domestic violence shelter. She is currently attending graduate school for theater in Mount Vernon, N.Y.

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