My Zen Arcade

So the Washington Post produces and distributes a sort of mini-news paper called the Express, which focuses much more on fluff than on “real” news.  It’s distributed at every metro station every morning — I always grab it* because, hey! free crossword puzzle!

And I’ve been noticing a trend — it seems to take a MUCH more feminist approach than most newspapers.  I don’t know why this is.  I don’t know if, because it’s the fluff paper, it has more woman writers, or if it’s because it’s trying to be “edgy,” or what, but, well, check out the articles below and tell me if I’m wrong here.

The saddest part is how shocking I consider these articles.  That a reviewer — in a real newspaper!  Produced by the WASHINGTON POST!  A REAL NEWSPAPER! — would refer to a movie as “almost misogynistic**”.  Or that a headline would take a sarcastic tone about how Kate’s career got in the way of Jon’s comfort.  Or that a blurb would just flat out say “Chris Brown beat Rihanna,” rather than completely disappearing the crime and/or the perpetrator (see an nigh-infinite series of crime articles from every newspaper about how a victim “was raped,” “was beaten,” or, even better “had sex forced upon her”).

I really wish I could copy and paste from these, but I can’t, so I’m adding the .pdf links:

All About Steve review, page 28
Headline “Being a Working Mother is Now Spousal Abuse,” page 58
Blurb contains the sentence “A judge sentences Chris Brown to serve five years of probation and perform six months of community service for beating Rihanna,” page 30

*The Washington Times produces a similar mini-paper, the Examiner.  I give it a pass because, hey!  It’s the Washington Times!
**If the movie bears any semblance to the review at all, it’s not “almost” misogynistic.”  But zie is headed in the right direction.