Dear Readers:
What do Lou Dobbs and Fox think is the biggest threat facing our society? Working moms.
Yep. You read that right.1
On Wednesday, an all-male panel on Dobbs’ Fox Business show was absolutely panicked over a new Pew study that shows women are the primary breadwinners in 40% of American households.2 In their hysteria, they opined that having women as primary breadwinners is “bad for kids, bad for marriage,” “catastrophic,” and will “undermine our social order.” One panelist, Erick Erickson, even said that “science” dictates that men are dominant over women.
Earth to Dobbs: This is not Leave It to Beaver. Working is a fact of life for most women, just like it is for most men.
The video of Dobbs and company blaming working mothers for the disintegration of society is spreading like wildfire online and across media outlets. Even Fox’s female hosts and reporters are speaking out.3 The reaction is clear: people are tired of this garbage on our TVs.
We can’t let Fox and Dobbs get away with this degrading, ignorant, anti-woman rhetoric on television. More Americans watch Fox News and its affiliates than any other cable news network4–what their panelists say is influential to tens of millions of people. If we all speak out, we can make sure Dobbs and his all-male panel are held accountable.
And this isn’t just a problem isolated to Dobbs’ show–it’s all over Fox. Host of Fox News program ‘The Five’,” Eric Bolling, said the increase in women’s earning power was actually a symptom of the “breakdown of the American family.”5
Lou Dobbs has said inflammatory things about women on Fox outlets before.6 And prior to his gig on Fox Business, he was known for xenophobic rants about immigrants on his CNN show.7
Dobbs is one of the worst examples of an old conservative who’s terrified of anything changing and just wishes the entire country were a Leave It To Beaver episode.
But reality is very different than Dobbs’ hysterical fantasy: women working outside the home is not destroying society. The divorce rate has been decreasing over the last 20 years, and Americans are happier than ever.8 The real problem is that while more women are the primary breadwinners at home, they’re still earning less than their male counterparts at work ($0.77 to every dollar to be exact).9
It’s time Lou Dobbs went the way of all 1950s television–off the air. His sexist rants and panels have no place in the 21st Century.
The outrage is already so bad that Erick Erickson, one of Dobbs’ panelists, called people challenging his out-dated views “emo lefties” on his blog.10 If we act now, we can hold Lou Dobbs and his panel accountable.
Will you sign the petition demanding Fox fire Lou Dobbs, Erick Erickson, and Juan Williams?
http://act.weareultraviolet.org/go/806?t=4&akid=461.6000.ts_d9i
Sign the petition.
Thanks for speaking out.
–Nita, Shaunna, Kat, Malinda and Karin, the UltraViolet team
Sources
1. The ‘science’ of gender roles, The Maddow Blog, May 30, 2013
2. Breadwinner Moms, PewResearch Social & Demographic Trends, May 29, 2013
3. Erick Erickson’s Latest Sexist Tirade Draws Outrage, Media Matters, May 30, 2013
4. May 2013 Ratings: Fox News Gains Total Viewers, Loses Younger Viewers, TVnewser, May 29, 2013
5. Fox’s Eric Bolling: More Women In The Workplace Will Lead To ‘More Abortions’, Mediaite, May 30, 2013
6.Fox’s Lou Dobbs: “Even If Roe v. Wade Were Turned Back … Abortion Rights Would Remain”, Media Matters, November 2, 2012
7. Lou Dobbs, American Hypocrite, The Nation, October 7, 2010
8. Divorce Rates Declining In The U.S. (Interactive Map), Huffington Post, April 11, 2013
Americans’ Emotional Health Reaches Four-Year High, Gallup Wellbeing, May 10, 2012
9. Fact Check: Women Earn 77 Cents to Every Dollar Men Earn, Says National Women’s Law Center, National Women’s Law Center, October 17, 2012
10. Erickson Fires Back At ‘Emo Lefties’, Talking Points Memo, May 30, 2013