Glamour Magazine just announced its 2017 “Women of the Year” awardees, whom they describe as “game changers, rule breakers, and trailblazers.” Perhaps some recipients are changing the world — though not all for the better — but nothing is changing at Glamour. The magazine continues its tradition of using this award to honor women who advance an extreme, leftist political agenda, while ignoring every woman with right-of-center views. The big question is, will this be the year that its readers decide enough is enough?
The average Glamour reader who seeks out the magazine for advice about this season’s hot lipstick shade and skirt length probably isn’t interested in a loving tribute to the organizers of the intensely partisan Women’s March.
The march, held in January to protest President Trump’s election, talked a lot about women coming together, diversity and inclusivity. But organizers weren’t even open-minded enough to allow a pro-life group that wanted to join them in protesting Trump to soil their ranks.
Today, it’s clear the march and movement were never really about women. The real purpose is to advance the left’s political agenda: The whole “women” thing is just a convenient political banner.
How else to explain why one of the march’s leaders, Linda Sarsour, who was featured by Glamour, defends sharia law and Saudi Arabia’s legal system — which, as CNN explains, denies women basic rights, such as the freedom to “marry, divorce, travel, get a job or have elective surgery without permission from their male guardians”?
Sarsour is pals with terrorist sympathizers and tweeted that female-genital-mutilation survivor and activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali is asking “4 an a$$whippin’ ” and “I wish I could take their vaginas away — they don’t deserve to be women.” Is this really the new poster girl for women’s lib?
Rep. Maxine Waters, the 79-year-old Democratic congresswoman from California, is also honored for “speaking truth to power.” According to Glamour: Waters “has long wielded her unapologetically laser-sharp tongue — surgical in its precision, devastating in its impact — in service of her progressive politics.”
They leave out she received another title from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington: One of DC’s “most corrupt” legislators, for her shady business dealings, in which she used her office to enrich her family. She also told members of the Tea Party movement they can “go straight to hell.” Did Glamour consider this may include many of its subscribers?
To mix things up, Glamour moved away from those directly involved in politics to honor late-night comedian Samantha Bee. Bee is a leader of another flank in the war on Trump, known for such open-minded and insightful comments as: “Once you dust for fingerprints, it’s pretty clear who ruined America: white people.”
Glamour applauds Bee for doubling her ratings but fails to note her audience of 1.3 million viewers is dwarfed by those of other shows featuring strong women — such as Fox News Channel’s “The Five,” with conservative powerhouses Dana Perino and Kimberly Guilfoyle, which pulls in 2 million viewers. Why weren’t Perino and Guilfoyle on this list? Smart Glamour readers can figure that out.
Glamour did manage to include a few worthy recipients in the mix, like NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and Syrian refugee Muzoon Almellehan, who is now an advocate for girls’ education. But it’s notable that while heavy on American politicos, not one of Glamour’s honorees who shows her political cards could be considered a centrist, let alone on the right.
Most Americans are tired of the politicization of everything, from football games to women’s fashion. Glamour would be wise to rethink whether its readership really wants a big serving of partisan politics served up when they pick up their magazine.
New York City editors may consider it the ultimate “don’t” to recognize non-leftists, but they ought to keep in mind that in 2016 four in 10 female voters nationwide cast their support for Trump. These women are shoppers who advertisers probably don’t want to offend. Female Trump voters even buy women’s magazines — at least they do for now.