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.

Tempest in a Lipstick Tube

I'm usually among the first to jump all over people who criticize women based on their gender or their motherhood. (In the past few weeks, I've slammed the critics who've nastily labeled Sarah Palin a "bad mom" for having the nerve to run for public office when she has a baby at home and a pregnant teenaged daughter, even though her husband is caring for the kids.)

However, when faux claims of sexism are leveled against someone, they sap the power from the rock solid, legitimate claims of sexism (a la the Palin attacks). And that's not good for anybody.

You've, no doubt, heard that the John McCain/Sarah Palin campaign is calling Barack Obama a sexist for using the well-worn phrase "lipstick on a pig" in reference to the attempt by the GOP ticket to market itself as an agent of change, despite its allegiance to the bulk of the current administration's policies.

However, this past May in Denver, McCain himself invoked the "lipstick on a pig" phrase -- well before Palin likened hockey moms to pit bulls wearing lipstick -- in reference to Hillary Clinton's health care plan.

I wouldn't call McCain a sexist for using that phrase (he was, after all, criticizing Clinton's plan as an attempt to dress up an old, rejected proposal and call it new), nor would I call Obama a sexist for using the same phrase in the same way. Can't we just stick to the real issues and ignore the attempts to divert our focus onto abject silliness?

(By the way, the phrase in question is also the title of a book by a former Bush administration Pentagon spokeswoman. Is that GOP pol a self-hating feminist for using the phrase? I think not.)

Decide for yourself by looking at the Slate video with both men.

Image credit: Eles Makeup.