Has 2009 Been 'The Year of Women Fighting Back'?

The Daily Beast’s Rebecca Dana was able to shoehorn Betty Draper, Taylor Swift, Jenny Sanford and Tiger Woods’ wife Elin Nordegren into the same column, lauding them for not taking adverse events that befell them lying down. Dubbing 2009, “The Year of Women Not Taking Sh**,” Dana wrote that Woods’ wife taking a “golf club to his Escalade” was only one among many instances of women striking back.

On Jenny Sanford – wife of the South Carolina governor who famously traveled to Argentina to visit his “soul mate” lover – Dana said that in the wake of the sex scandal, Jenny Sanford “declined to pull a ‘Silda Spitzer’ and saddle up next to her over-tanned Republican spouse for his meandering mea culpa. Instead, she released a sternly worded statement and took off with her sons to a house in the country. She gave a strong, unapologetic interview to Vogue and looked lovely in the accompanying photo. Eventually she packed some boxes, called some friends, and moved the hell out.”

After being dumped by a JoBro and then enduring Kanye West storming up onto the stage to interrupt her acceptance speech at the VMAs, Dana wrote that singer Taylor Swift then landed an SNL hosting gig, enjoyed the mammoth success of her hit CD, won a trunk full of awards and is now dating the werewolf from Twilight.

A woman who didn’t do so well hosting SNL, January Jones, fared better when she inhabited the persona of Betty Draper on Mad Men and “finally left serial womanizing husband, Don.” But, as one person mentioned on Twitter, Betty did leave Don to run right into the arms of another guy.

Other women mentioned as kicking some butt this year:

Kate Gosselin whose estranged husband was openly messing around with the daughter of the plastic surgeon who did Kate's tummy tuck and subsequently told ABC that he "despised" Kate, Bristol Palin soldiering on as a single mom -- using her teen pregnancy as a cautionary tale while the dude who impregnated her is making an idiot of himself, and the wife of the Italian prime minister who wouldn’t put up with his philandering any longer and lashed out at him in public.

Is Dana right? WAS 2009 a good year for women standing up for themselves? Anyone else you could add to her list?

Image credit: Illustration by Dyna Moe/Nobody's Sweetheart.

Lipstick: This Year's Rallying Cry

First there was Sarah Palin's difference-between-a-hockey-mom-and-pitbull joke at the Republican convention. (The difference being lipstick, don't you know.)

Then there was Barack Obama's lipstick on a pig kerfuffle. (Some alleged he was referring to Palin.)

Now supporters of NBC's embattled Brooke Shields dramedy Lipstick Jungle -- which may or may not have gotten a reprieve from cancellation -- are sending tubes of lipstick to NBC execs pleading with them to keep their favorite program on the air, reports The Daily Beast:

"According to Lipstick star Brooke Shields, who spoke to The Daily Beast from the set yesterday, the NBC mailroom now looks like the beauty aisle of a supermarket. 'NBC is now flooded with lipstick,' she says. 'Women are in uproar over this . . . they’ve tried to kill us before and we have refused to die. If we were meant to be off the air, we wouldn’t have made it as far as we have. Everything that could possibly go wrong with a show has happened with us.'"

Lipstick Jungle writer Ilene Rosenzweig, who writes the show's blog, told The Daily Beast why her show should be saved:

"There are no other female-driven dramas on television, and if this one goes, it will have been the last. But women are so sick of reality TV and want to have a place where they can turn for escapism and frivolity, but also to confront the real struggles that powerful women face in the workplace and at home."

Lipstick, anyone?

Image credit: NBC.

Suburban Mom's Political Fix: Poll Respondents Say Media Demonstrate a Gender Bias

The Daily Beast, a new web site created by Tina Brown, commissioned a poll of 1,000 voters conducted in the days immediately after the election. The results present an interesting snapshot of folks' thoughts about this past election and the issue of sexism in light of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin's candidacies. Among the findings:

-- 57 percent said the media have a gender bias, while 79 percent said the media treat male and female political candidates differently.

-- While most rejected the term "feminist," they resoundingly rejected the notion that because of how this presidential campaign unfolded and the ensuing treatment of Clinton and Palin, we won't likely see more women vying for top elected offices in the near future.

-- 64 percent strongly disagreed with the notion that men are more suited to be president.

-- 74 percent strongly disagreed with the idea that female political candidates are more emotional.

-- When it came to their perception of the climate for women in general, respondents said women are not treated equally at work, in politics or in the military. Home was the only place where a majority of those polled said women are treated equally. (I for one, would take issue with the issue of equity at home.)

Agree or disagree with the findings? Think the media demonstrated a gender bias toward Clinton and Palin?