You're a chick yourself

The feminist criticized the publication Meduza and other media for their sexist attitude towards the audience

On March 24, feminist and journalist Bella Rapoport, in the publication Kolta.ru, criticized her colleagues from the Russian media, who allow sexism not only in their publications, but also when communicating with readers. The main reason for Rapoport’s rebuke was the manner of communication on social networks by the authors of the Meduza publication, which days earlier had released an explanatory material about sexism in Russia.

Having deep roots in the recent history of sexism, the scandal between Rapoport and Meduza grew beyond the original topic and opened up long-standing complaints between journalistic teams against each other.

As Rapoport said, a few weeks before the scandal, Meduza approached her with a request to help prepareexplanatory material on sexism . In December, the journalist became one of the main mouthpieces of criticism against the “Rate the Chick” community, which published photographs of girls with different price tags for voting.

Rapoport did not like the questions sent by Meduza journalists. Instead of discussing the legal protection of women, support for women's transparency and the fight against objectification, the publication asked her to answer questions about whether it is worth giving up a seat to women on transport, paying for them for lunch in a restaurant and giving them a coat.

According to the journalist, moving to Europe did not help her colleagues acquire European values.

The last thing I (like many other feminists) think about in this situation is who hands whom the coat and moves the chair back. And the question of paying the bill in a cafe is more likely to make you want to talk about the thirty percent difference in the salaries of men and women than about etiquette. In general, I told the Meduza representative that there were more serious questions, sent information that I considered more important, and began to wait for publication.

To my disappointment, the output predictably turned into a glossy guide to how to present a coat. The publication chose not to cover the main problems of sexism: these points, which have long become traditional values ​​and spiritual bonds in Russia, apparently are the same for the portal’s editors. […] People want to preserve the white coat of the bearers of liberal values, but do not want to change anything in their worldview for this.

Bella Rapoport, journalist

Rapoport recalled other examples of sexism in related publications: dissatisfaction with the appearance of the actress at the Oscars in The Village, on Echo of Moscow they are discussing not the charitable projects of a certain media person, but the size of her breasts, and even strong female bloggers are starting to broadcast “coming messages to them from outside,” the feminist wrote about Katya Kermlin’s opinion . According to Rapoport, women speak “on their own behalf” only in publications such as Wonderzine, where their voices are not heard - but the magazine for women is at war with colleagues in the Look At Media holding, proving that selections of cocktails for getting girls drunk are not funny.

Many of the publications are correcting themselves: some delete their posts with mistakes, others indirectly admit that their opinion is a manifestation of sexism, noted the author of the article on Colte.ru. However, in the case of Meduza, everything was different: the publication’s journalists not only did not admit their mistake, Rapoport continued, but also began to explain to the girls that they should not be offended by such an approach.

Guys, here are instructions on how not to offend chicks https://t.co/ltg1tS282P

— Meduza Project (@meduzaproject) March 19, 2015

Guys, look, our tweet inspired a chick's column http://t.co/4D9BlX0b4n

— Meduza Project (@meduzaproject) March 24, 2015

Interesting statistics: - There are 46 characters in a tweet - There are 11 thousand characters in the column about this tweet.

— Meduza Project (@meduzaproject) March 24, 2015

Regardless of gender, the audience reacted to the messages differently: some suggested less censorship options instead of “chick”, others pointed out that Rapoport was at least partially right, and still others threatened to stop reading the publication.

Having accused Meduza of using the word “chick” as offensive, Rapoport moved on to a broader topic: the formation of a frivolous attitude towards women’s struggle for their rights.

Instead of focusing on reflection and empathy, advocates of human rights and liberal values ​​tell offended women that they are talking to constructs in their own heads and have no sense of humor. […]

Sexism doesn't seem to be as big a problem as other types of discrimination, not because it isn't. It’s just that it permeates any spheres, strata and information spaces so much that it is considered by everyone, including those who suffer from it, as something normative. It is broadcast by many, even the most advanced, media unintentionally - out of habit. […]

This issue is worth a more serious and loud discussion than the conversation about giving coats. The lack of a voice for women is both a consequence and a cause of their dehumanization, which in mild forms results in words like “chick”, and in severe forms – in mass violence.

Bella Rapoport, journalist

The editor-in-chief of Meduza, Galina Timchenko, mentioned in the journalist’s text, twice commented on her article on her Facebook, comparing Rapoport’s manner of communication with the assistant to the editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy, Lesya Ryabtseva.

Another “Lesyaryabtseva” freelancing from feminism seems to have emerged. Unfortunately, much more verbose, but, alas, just as inarticulate. Yes, and even so, but “Kolta” seems to be becoming the main and rather dirty gossip in the party. It's a pity. […]

And yet you can’t drink away the skill - 46 characters are discussed in the second week and 11 thousand characters are written in response. No Putin has ever dreamed of such an asymmetrical response. Women, you never cease to amaze me. I'm proud of you.

Galina Timchenko, editor-in-chief of Meduza

Several male Meduza journalists gathered in a discussion with the former editor-in-chief of Afisha magazine, Alexander Gorbachev, but after communicating in the comments, they never came to a conclusion whether the tweet was offensive to Rapoport and whether they should apologize. Rapoport later stated that she was not personally offended by the tweet, but she still considers the address “chick” offensive and unacceptable for the media.

After the article published by Rapoport, co-founder of the SMM agency “Shaggy Cheese” and head of the publication about science “Obrazovac” Andrei Konyaev said that he should have sued “Kolta.ru” for a phrase in Oleg Kashin’s review of a book about “Lente.ru” : “Mamut still paid him a salary for “Lentach”, but Konyaev cheated Mamut.” According to Konyaev, he asked the editors of the publication to remove the defamation of his business reputation, but his fellow journalists refused to do this.

According to Article 152 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation (“Protection of honor, dignity and business reputation”), it is difficult to prove moral damage, so usually when it comes to protecting reputation, the existence of damage is proven. Usually these are missed financial opportunities. I am an SMM person. Kashin says that I am stealing publicity. This is detrimental to my work: no one will ask me for promotion services if I steal public pages. That's the potential damage.

Andrey Konyaev, co-founder of the SMM agency “Shaggy Cheese”

Meduza publisher Ilya Krasilshchik ended the scandal.

Guys, the tweet is ***** [nonsense], stop. Peace to all. Brothers, don't shoot each other. Come for a visit.

Ilya Krasilshchik, publisher of Meduza

#Scandal #Oleg_Kashin #journalism #Ilya_Krasilshchik #Kolta_ru #Galina_Timchenko #Andrey_Konyaev #Meduza #feminism #Bella_Rapoport #media doctors