Girl's got to have some smarts. I mean, she heads a multi billion dollar empire, has Emmys and an Oscar, and apparently makes the curriculum for all of South Africa.
But...today's Oprah is currently airing in the tri state area. For the first half of the show, Oprah interviewed intersex (aka the artists formerly known as hermaphrodites) people. Let's discuss her faux pas.
One, she high fived one of the first guests because it turned out she had a functioning and recognizable va-jayjay. And that is the word she used. Va-jayjay. I'll see you on the soup, insensitive Oprah clip mentioning va-jayjay.
Two, she goes to one of the other guests, "Are you gay?" Nice lead in, Oprah. You have the journalistic integrity and skill of a questioner during the Spanish Inquisition.
And then, after all that, Oprah had the energy to get on her high horse and ask a "question" to her medical expert that was something along the lines of, isn't it better to just accept people as they are instead of insisting they change? Of course, she got enthusiastic applause. But what was the medical expert going to say to that? No? Only if it turns out that the medical expert was Dr. Mengle in disguise.
Rosie, homegirl, thank goodness you didn't go anywhere near that show.
Stay tuned for riveting thoughts on the new television season, including the female reincarnation of JFK running the show on CBS' KID NATION!
10 comments:
Oh phew. I thought I was the only one who had problems with Oprah's handling of the topic. The va-jayjay thing was ridiculous and if I was Katie I would have looked at her kind of funny. But she was too polite.
I hated the way she kept saying INTERsex as if it is a foreign word and then calling it the preferred term, not explaining why hermaphrodite is problematic.
And then she got all screwed up with the spectrum thing. I don't know what Alice Dreger said about a spectrum but Oprah clearly did not get it and the fact that she asked what the difference between transgender and intersex is just displays her ignorance. She had an expert (Dreger) at the ready. Ask that question beforehand and convey the information to the audience. If it's the topic of your show, it's something you should know beforehand.
if your blog is suddenly shut down tomorrow I will know that Oprah gained wind of your discontent.
Ken, I am surprised the next two guests even came out on stage after Oprah's segment with Katie. She had to lead with the pretty, clearly feminine looking intersex person, didn't she. That defeated any chance of the show creating true understanding for these people. I understand that Oprah has to 'dumb down' her questions so that her audience can gain an understanding, but she really behaved as if she just moved out of her shack in rural Mississippi, like, yesterday.
Pat, I may never work in this, or any other town, again.
I actually saw the va-jay-jay interview! And I virtually never watch Oprah.
Oprah was ridiculous. There are many other ways of finding out whether the interviewee had female genitalia. And to congratulate her on it runs counter to the supposed point of the show and could be insulting to many *INTERsex* people, not to mention those of us who are sensitive to their individuality within the *spectrum.* (These vocab words are a doozy!)
That said, I've been practicing DJ-ing lately (really) and it's going pretty well and I've been trying to find a DJ name. What do you think about DJ VaJayJay ? Or please let me know if you have any other recommendations!
Not sure Rosie would have necessarily produced anything less offensive. More deconstructive, perhaps.
Oprah was disrespectful. I also think it's a bit misleading to dismiss the relationship between intersex and transgendered as much discussion challenging the standard of "male v. female" is born of multi-platform effort to bring queer theory out in the open. If we can make an analogy with "multiculturalism"--the movement has been traditionally fueled by communities of VARIOUS ethnicities/colors. Which is not to say that all are the SAME, but I think there's an oversimplification committed in in fully separating.
I was complimenting Rosie in her recent rejection of an interview with Oprah re: her new book...
Oprah does not have an Oscar.
You mistook hyperbole for fact. We never prided ourselves on being an encyclopedia here at boobtubers.
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